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SCOTTISH FOOTBALL IN CRISIS: Fleeting idea to change the long-term future

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• Jim Fleeting has made children’s ‘physical literacy’ his primary concern

Michael Grant

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Published on 18 Nov 2009

Jim Fleeting is up out of his seat, one minute throwing an imaginary ball against a wall, the next volleying it.

He is animated and loud, banging his fists against a table. Anyone looking in through the windows of his Hampden office might imagine that this grandfather had lost his marbles, but the staff who work around him know this behaviour is par for the course.

The SFA’s director of football development is talking about what he sees as the essence of this country’s sporting problem: too little physical education in primary schools, no “physical literacy” among our children. Few things get Fleeting more worked up than this.

He passionately believes that various football, sporting and wider social problems flow from the fact Scottish children are not physically educated at primary age. Without that, the damage is done. Between eight and 12 are the “window” years for optimum physical education. When children have core balance and co-ordination it is far, far easier to improve their technique and Scotland lags behind other nations.

While others at the SFA, including chief executive Gordon Smith continue to lobby for greater government investment in facilities – the £15.7m Regional Football Centre in Glasgow’s Toryglen is wonderful, but where are the rest? – Fleeting worries that this country does not even construct its children properly.

It sticks in my craw, the heart-disease rate, the acoholism, all that negative, negative crap you get. It bursts my head. We need a radical change of Scottish culture.

Jim Fleeting, SFA director of football development

“Our kids don’t have the same physical development as kids on the continent, and I’m talking here about the most basic balancing skills,” he said. “That’s where we have a problem because if we don’t start with a quality product, we won’t have a quality product at the end of it. In the old days, our kids learned physical literacy through kicking a can, climbing trees, falling down and picking themselves up, stealing apples and getting chased. All those wee running, jumping, throwing and catching games. We don’t do as much of that any more.”

Instead, today’s children live more sedentary lives than previous generations, preoccupied with computer games, Facebook and so on. Perhaps schools could drag them to their feet through more physical education (PE) lessons? According to Fleeting that is where the problems are compounded.

“Our PE provision in primary school is horrendous and I’m talking about for kids from five years old,” he said. “The amount of PE kids get at school doesn’t meet any requirements. In Edinburgh, they’ve apologised for the fact that they won’t reach their target until 2012 – and the target is provision of one-and-a-half to two hours per week in primary schools. How horrendous is that? How does that look for the Scottish nation when we’re in the top 10 for stabbings, drug-taking, heart-attacks, drinking, and yet we still don’t think that PE in primary schools is a priority?

“If we could get every primary kid in Scotland from P4 onwards to have an hour’s physical activity every day we could change the face of Scottish culture, not just Scottish sport. We need a radical change of Scottish culture. I’m fed up reading about the health of this nation. It sticks in my craw, the heart-disease rate, the alcoholism, all that negative, negative crap you get. It bursts my head. We have to have something to latch on to, to change and make a difference.”

What he hears from the schools is that their hands are tied. They must provide 25 hours of curriculum time in a week and that doesn’t leave enough for PE on a daily basis. Clackmannanshire is the only local authority in Scotland with a PE specialist visiting every primary school. Fleeting cannot understand why the school week cannot be extended to 27-and-a-half hours.

“Scotland has probably one of the lowest number of hours in school per week of any country in the developed world. We have passionate parents, teachers, individuals in this country who want to see radical change. At the SFA we’re doing community programmes, midnight leagues, volunteers in schools, soccer schools and Player Pathways [a long overdue initiative to have children playing four-a-side games], but we can’t get a grasp on education because we can’t control that.”

Smith yesterday briefed the media on the search for a new Scotland manager, but took time to outline to The Herald the SFA’s position on youth development and facilities. He has lobbied for the government to fully engage with football, in return for huge social and cultural benefits for the country as a whole.

“We need to increase athleticism in the country, work with the government to create a culture of health and fitness, sort of like you see in Australia,” said Smith. “In football the second most important thing is working on technique. Managers tend to say ‘stop trying to be clever, stop trying the fancy stuff’ instead of encouraging skills to develop. And the third thing is having a winning mentality. We want managers, coaches and parents to back off from talking about mistakes, etc, and concentrate on how much kids are putting into it, and their appetite and aptitude and so on.”

And then there are facilities. Or, more accurately, there aren’t facilities. Henry McLeish, the former first minister, has been commissioned to compile a wide-ranging review of Scottish football – he will report on “grassroots” early in the New Year – and Smith hopes the government may receive the findings and be shamed into a greater level of investment.

“I’ve told Henry McLeish to go to Norway, check out the facilities there and ask how much they get from their government to pay for ‘3g’ synthetic surfaces. The Scandinavian countries are much more interested in it than we are and we need these facilities in order to encourage kids to play.

“Here, politicians nod their head at you and say ‘yeah, we’d love to do that’, but what we need is comparative thinking. We need to say: ‘Norway, four million people and here’s how many 3g pitches 
the government pays for in a year – how many do ours pay for?’

“I know the Scottish Government has problems, a lack of budget, and to find sporting money is hard. But something like developing physical literacy would save the country a lot of money in the long-term.”

Instead, poor-quality pitches and spartan “facilities” do absolutely nothing to lure children away from their computers and out into the rain, win and cold to play football.

Fleeting, whose daughter Julie is Scotland’s most-capped footballer, added: “If I was running a kids’ team, I’d get them to put on coats, hats, gloves and trackie bottoms in cold weather. But we don’t do that. We throw them out with a strip on and short sleeves and ask the weans to play. I’m a father and now a grandfather and I just wouldn’t put my kid out to play in that. When it’s too windy, it’s too windy.”

Despite the chronic under-investment in facilities, the weather and the lack of physical literacy and PE in schools, Fleeting insists participation levels are encouraging. Tens of thousands of children pass through the SFA’s hands every year, as do 13,000 adults via its coach education programmes.

The “Player Pathway” initiative is a big one: Andy Roxburgh was unable to push through a similar initiative in 1982, but it is finally about to be imposed throughout the land. “A kid in Wick will play his recreational football the same way as a kid in Dumfries: four-a-side for six-to-eight-year-olds, seven-a-side for nine-to-12-year-olds, and then 11-a-sides for all.”

It is long overdue. Without “physical literacy”, though, there is only so much that Scotland’s football children will ever learn.

I agree with most of Fleeting's sentiments. A few comments.

1. Wholeheartedly agree, must get more indoor facilities, and with better surfaces for kids to improve technique. BUT the country has no money, and higher priorities right now.
2. PE at school. Tricky one, as my primary school teacher wife says, the timetable is crammed full as it is, and 'the boys play football at playtime anyway'. The kids at her school are getting two hours a week, unlike Edinburgh. The SFA need to remember though, that PE is not just for football. The schools send the kids swimming for instance.
3. I'd add that professional teams need to invest more in the community, and provide under age squads/coaching etc. Falkirk FC upped their game a few years ago, and are reaping the rewards in the first team. But even if the players don't make it to Falkirk's first team, if they play elsewhere Scotland is benefiting, and social problems with drink, drugs, health etc will improve. I think the Old Firm should address their investment into the community; they have the greatest pull of the kids, and with no money to spend on transfers, they've now very little choice but to invest locally. Interesting that tonights Scotland schoolboy game v England is full of Celtic players, but very few Rangers?! I wonder why?

Pele spent a season with West Brom before his release this summer

Pele has signed a deal with Falkirk that will keep him at the club until the end of the season.

The Portuguese defensive midfielder has had a medical with the Scottish Premier League club.

The former West Brom and Southampton player, who cost both clubs £1m each, has now signed, subject to a medical.

Pele, 31, has been training with Falkirk as a free agent for the last 10 days and manager Eddie May says he will add valuable experience to his squad.

Having started his career with Imortal Desportivo Clube, Pele moved to Algarve neighbours Farense before joining Belenenses.

Pele joined Southampton in 2006 and moved to West Brom the following year but was released this summer.

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Great headline!

Quality!

Bigoted chanting is an old sore with Rangers FC and its support, and the club makes weekly tannoy requests urging fans to report other supporters who indulge in such antics. Rangers even advertise a telephone number by which supporters can file such complaints with details (where the offender sits, etc). As you can imagine, the so-called "grassing" hotline is hardly popular among those Rangers diehards, for whom songs about Popes, Fenians and the rest of it is both a right and a privilege.

But journalists getting involved? It is one thing for someone in my position to report it and comment on it, but quite another to wade in and become an active participant. And yet more than one correspondent has written to me since Sunday and said something such as: "Go on then Graham ... let's see if you've got the guts to do it."

In fact, Sunday at Ibrox was no exceptional symptom of the Old Firm's bigotry problem - that is, if you are used to these things and simply accept that the droning choristers will not be able to help themselves. And in this regard, Rangers as a club are between a rock and a hard place.

Uefa has already punished Rangers for the bigoted antics of its supporters in 2006, an episode which proved excruciating for the club's directors. Yet since then, while some of Rangers' efforts to cure the problem have definitely slackened off, more and more people are commenting that the old Ibrox ills are creeping back. The Rangers pre-match anthem, Simply the Best, is now embarrassingly hijacked by throngs of supporters, who apply their own offensive lyric to the tune, as was the case once more on Sunday.

In my own specific experience on Sunday, a Rangers fan sitting behind my press position in the main stand was chanting so loudly and excitedly - and offensively - that it simply became a distraction. It was also quite sad when I turned round to look at him: he was youngish, maybe 18 or 19, and highly animated by events on the pitch, and in every other way quite a respectable-looking bloke.

It always comes back to the same dilemma: what can be done? Thousands of Rangers fans on Sunday afternoon repeatedly let rip with their popular refrain "we hate Celtic - fenian bastards", precisely the sort of language which caused Uefa to punish the club in 2006. Yet are Rangers, their stewards or the police supposed to wade in and apprehend hundreds of fans? It just isn't feasible.

Yet Rangers have gone mute on this subject, thanks in the main to local Scottish media pressure easing on them: not a cheep, not an utterance of condemnation from the club in recent times about such songs. Rangers are currently practising a cowardice on the subject which will once more return to haunt them. And it all remains cringe-making for those legions of decent Rangers fans who just wish the tribes of oafs in their midst would either be muzzled, or removed, or both. The club's image remains in the gutter.

I may or may not report my main stand miscreant to Rangers. In all honesty, I'm loath to. And in any case, the way Rangers are copping out of all this at the moment, would they be in the slightest bit interested?

Well said Graham, although I strongly believe you should "shop" the Rangers fan for the singing. While Rangers have made postive efforts to encourage fans to highlight the offenders, it's sad that genuine decent fans don't do it. At the end of the day a ban from Europe would be the next step UEFA would take following their fines, and let's face it, the Champions League games (and v Celtic of course) are the only attractions for season ticket holders.

Graham has often commented on the problem at Ibrox, and the club have taken action as have Celtic (who have less of a problem!), but why continue with Simply the Best when it's hijacked by the bigots without fear of any ban.

As an aside, I heard a news story that there are MORE Orange marches here in Glasgow, and the West of Scotland, than in Northern Ireland! I back the Police in requesting the marches be cut back to save costs. Whilst not always the Orange Lodge's problem that yobs follow and cause trouble, for me, you've got to remove the root cause and that's ban the marches from Scotland's streets.

I think Jim Jefferies and De Boer make some excellent points here. As a kid myself, it was clear that the bigger stronger boys all played in the prime positions, centre defence, centre midfeld, and centre forward. Myself, being a bit of a short ar*e was left back. Now, personally this may have been the best position for me, as I could tackle, and was left footed, but I do agree that height and strength, and possible just "winning the cups" was more important than working on technical skills.

The SFA, and SPL clubs really have to visit Holland, and FC Barcelona to take a look at their academies, facilities, and teaching practices. Close to me in Toryglen, there is a fantastic new indoor facility just opened, hopefully the coaching is of a similar standard. I think the appetite for the game is here in Scotland, it's our national sport, we should be bringing through the next Law, Baxter etc.

Falkirk FC being a small community club have invested in an academy, and it appears to be highly regarded. Celtic and Hibs have already tried to poach some of our coaches. Hopefully in years to come, Falkirk FC will reap the rewards, Barr, Scobbie and Arfield are only the first three to hit the first team. The joint venture with Stirling University has been in existence for 3/4 years or longer now. Age groups start at under 9s.

The ironic thing is that Mourinho and Moyes are amongst only two managers who have SFA coaching badges! Scotland national team could never get a similarly rated manager in at the helm.

Tuesday’s feature match pits two men who play like each shot will be the last of their career: 13th-seeded Gael Monfils and 3rd-seeded Rafael Nadal. This is a matchup that would tend to favor Nadal, who holds a 4-1 head-to-head lead. But on Sunday, Nadal sustained what appeared to be a painful injury to his midsection that required treatment during his straight-set win over Nicolas Almagro.

Monfils has a history of injuries, and skipped Wimbledon because of trouble with his wrist. After coming back this month, Monfils did not distinguish himself in two tournaments leading to the Open. But here he has been playing superb tennis, hustling his way into the fourth round without dropping a set. Against the dangerous Jose Acasuso of Argentina in the third round, Monfils was at his running, sliding, jumping, fist-pumping best. He chased down everything Acasuso threw his way, and made circus shots look routine.

Until the Almagro match, all the injury questions surrounding Nadal focused on his knees. The knees have held up, but if Nadal’s new injury affects his play, it could open the door for Monfils to sneak into his first-ever United States Open quarterfinal. Even if Nadal is healthy, Monfils is playing well enough to make this a competitive and highly entertaining match.

Kim Clijsters vs. Li Na (18). It’s hard to call Clijsters’s fourth-round win over Venus Williams an upset, given the way the former No. 1 and 2005 champion has been playing here. Except for one bad set against Marion Bartoli in the second round, Clijsters has been playing championship-level tennis. The Williams match wasn’t always pretty, but after splitting the first two sets at love, Clijsters found a way to pull through in the third, denying third-seeded Williams a chance to advance to her 10th Open quarterfinal. Li is a quick, athletic baseliner who, on a good day, can generate winning shots from anywhere on the court. On bad days, Li’s game devolves into a torrent of unforced errors and weak second serves, which Clijsters will be quick to take advantage of. If Li is on, expect a very competitive match. If not, Clijsters could be into the locker room (and her third Open semifinals) in around an hour.

Marin Cilic (16) vs. Andy Murray (2). After winning a tough first-round matchup with Ernests Gulbis and dropping a set to Paul Capdeville in the second, Murray mastered a resurgent Taylor Dent in a third-round rout. Murray kept Dent on the defensive all night with pinpoint passing shots, penetrating topspin lobs and even a few volleys. He blasted winner after winner off even Dent’s heaviest serves, and chased down balls that few others could have reached. In short, Murray looked like a man ready to win a major.

The big question is, Which Cilic will show up to play? In his first-round match against Jesse Levine, Cilic looked not only ready to lose after dropping the first two sets, but he looked ready to quit the sport of tennis. His serve was off, his ground strokes uneven, his shoulders were slumped. Cilic looked, frankly, as if he wanted out. But something clicked in the third set, and Cilic, the talented 20-year-old Croatian, won 18 of the next 21 games, and the match. He went on to handle his third-round opponent, Denis Istomin, with ease. Cilic has loads of potential, and the game to make this interesting.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7) vs. Fernando Gonzalez (11). Two of the biggest hitters in the game square off in what could be a phenomenal display of shot making. Tsonga and Gonzalez have big serves and arguably the biggest forehands in the game. But both have also learned (Gonzalez somewhat later in his career) that there’s more to winning at this level than simple brute force. Expect to see some long rallies, clever angles as each player tries to set up themselves up for a knockout punch from the baseline.

Serena Williams (2) vs. Flavia Pennetta (10). Williams, the defending champion, hasn’t lost a set in getting to her eighth Open quarterfinals. Stopping her will be a tall order for the scrappy Pennetta, who brushed away multiple match points against Vera Zvonareva to equal her best performance here. Pennetta is a fluid all-court player who has been playing great tennis this year. But Williams should be able to handle everything thrown her way, and then some.

Juan Martin del Potro (6) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero (24). Ferrero is a former United States Open runner-up and once the top-ranked player in the world. But that was in 2003, when del Potro was still just entering his early teens. Ferrero has played some great tennis to get this far, and caught a bit of a break when Gilles Simon of France, the No. 9 seed, had to retire in the fourth set because of injury. But del Potro will be too much for him. Expect some long rallies, but del Potro should be able to move into his first-ever Open semifinal with relative ease.

In the Junior United States Open:

Lauren Embree (7) vs. Laura Robson. Britain’s Robson, a 15-year-old left-hander shouldering the hopes of a nation, is not seeded in her first appearance in the United States Open junior championships, but then, neither were the past two winners — Kristina Kucova of Slovakia in 2007 and CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States last year. Against Embree, a University of Florida freshman and the seventh seed, Robson will need to serve well and crush her forehand, taking control of points early. Embree is rock solid off the ground, a great defender and mentally tough, so a Robson win here would be a well-earned confidence boost for the still growing teenager.

Big day at the US Open today! Tournament is bubbling up nicely.

Nadal's recovery from injury will be interesting, could well lose tonight.

Murray should get through ok.