The survey, which provides grassroots football participants with an opportunity to voice their opinions on the football provision in their county, received 30,315 responses – up from 28,750 and 30,161 in 2015/16 and 2016/17 respectively – from over 6,000 adult players, 1,000 youth players, 6,000 coaches, 3,000 referees, over 3,000 club and league officials, as well as parents, spectators and wider volunteers.

 Headline statistics and general feedback from the latest Grassroots Football Survey include:  

 Artificial grass pitches and pitch improvements are key areas for facilities investment

• However, 35% of participants now find it easy to access an artificial grass pitch
• 91% believe any form of disrespect does not belong in the game
• All groups, except adult male players, predict participation levels will increase next season
• 73% of participants desire greater interaction with their respective County FA

As part of the process, participants were also asked to provide personal feedback and a selection can be seen below:

A club Chairman from Birmingham said: "The County FA has been very supportive of our new walking football league since I became Chairman. They have also helped me on a number of issues and their website to check scores and league tables has been invaluable."   

A Club Welfare Officer from Cheshire responded: "My early experiences were not great but I am glad to say that things are much better these days. A new management and referee department has been put in place over the past 12 months and their impact has been phenomenal in helping to transform my County FA for the better."  

A new manager from Sheffield added: "Plenty of information and support is at hand by phone, email or text and staff have proven to be extremely approachable. Learning materials are also readily available to aid and improve my performance from preparation of fixtures to administration after match days. I’m looking to also become a referee and hope to receive the same level of support and service."  

Some of the highlights from the Cornwall FA survey results include;

Strengths

Our coaches were overall more satisfied than the previous year with the quality and value of courses provided

The satisfaction of the club Charter Standard programme and support around this has increased

Our Referees are more pleased with the support with they receive from the County FA particularly around administration support

Weaknesses

Some of our customers have said they would like more interaction with the County FA- we have already taken steps to improve this by increasing our social media/ website communication and now work more closely with local media including an article in the Sunday Independent each week. Going forward we will also be releasing 2 monthly newsletters- a general football one and a female specific one, details on how to sign up to these newsletters will be on our website in the coming weeks.

The need to improve the pitch provision and quality- we are always working hard to support local clubs with access to quality pitches. Our Senior Football Development Officer Dan has been working with a number of clubs/ venues who were looking to build 3G pitches including 2 brand new facilities in both Hayle and Falmouth. We also launched our own grant scheme in 2018- the Small Clubs Grant Scheme- which gave clubs an opportunity to apply for a grant to be used for various areas around the upkeep of their club. 30 clubs have benefited from this new scheme, making a real difference in the community.

The next Grassroots Football Survey will be launched in October 2018, we are looking forward to receiving more feedback from our football community and ideas on how we can continue to support them.