Malta Youth Football Association president Fr Hilary Tagliaferro said a series of initiatives will be introduced this season as part of the education drive aimed to increasing interest among all stakeholders in local competitions.
“We will be investing in various projects this year, mainly intended for our players, club administrators and also parents,” Fr Hilary told club delegates during an annual seminar held recently at The Palace Hotel, Sliema.
A set of perimeter boards bearing positive messages are being installed at all grounds hosting Youth FA matches this season. The boards are sponsored by Global Security and the Administrators Course in Scotland.
Highlighting the objectives of the youth football organisation, Fr Hilary expressed disappointment that some nurseries have withdrawn their teams from the Youth FA leagues after the draws had taken place.
He urged club organisers and administrators to adopt a more professional approach, also urging them to let young players move freely from one nursery to another without compensation.
“This is stopping young children from playing football,” he remarked.
Various speakers took part in the seminar, including Anthea Xuereb, communications officer at European Union Programmes Agency (EUPA), Roberta Lepre and Isotta Rossini, from the Victim Support Unit, and Stephanie Rocco.
Rocco launched the Erasmus+ Programme ‘Investing in Our People – Scotland 2017’. Her initiative will enable a number of nursery administrators and YFA officials to follow a training programme at Kilmarnock FC in Glasgow.
This course covers various administrative aspects, such as best practices, ethics and interactive networking.
Robert Gatt (MFA technical director) and Stephen Grima (MFA director of coaching) gave a detailed presentation on the stringent demands to qualify for the newly-launched Elite Academy pilot project and the way forward.
Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo delivered the closing address.
He said the seminar has become an annual appointment he genuinely looked forward to as it focused on development and growth, an enduring success which cannot be measured by the trophies won but by the progress achieved.
The Malta FA head thanked all those involved in any capacity in the running of the football nurseries for their dedication to the development of the Beautiful Game at grassroots level.