UpdateFrom Monday July 11 to Monday October 10 2016, we are seeking people’s views on a planned package of measures to tackle peak-time congestion in Cambridge which will significantly improve public transport, cycling and walking journeys.

Your feedback will be used by the Greater Cambridge City Deal to help shape and improve the approach, which was approved in principle by the Executive Board in June.

Final recommendations are due to be considered in January 2017.

Have your say

We would like to know what you think about the plan, how you think this might affect you or motivate you to change your mode of transport when travelling in Cambridge.

While the combination of measures has been agreed, we are keen to hear any issues or concerns you may have about any particular elements.

This is a preliminary period of engagement and further consultation on specific elements of the package is planned in due course.

You can have your say in a number of different ways:

• Complete the online questionnaire
• Pick-up a leaflet and questionnaire from a local community hub from the end of week commencing 11 July. You can find the list of locations here (PDF, 204KB)
• Book a telephone chat or take part in a web chat. See available times. 
• Attend a local event or exhibition
• E-mail city.deal@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
• Call 01223 699906
• Respond on Facebook and Twitter

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Exclusive: Premier League clubs accused of betraying disabled fans with a third failing to meet wheelchair access promise BY Jerem y Wilson, Deputy Football Correspondent, The Telegraph

 Premier League clubs have been accused of “disgracefully” betraying their disabled fans after it was revealed that almost a third are expected to renege on a collective promise to provide the minimum recommended access for wheelchairs. 

Despite being secured a windfall from television deals over the next three years of £8.3 billion, some of the richest clubs in world football – including Chelsea and Liverpool – appear already to have accepted that they will not meet a pledge that was made last year.

Read more here

http://www.levelplayingfield.org.uk/news/exclusive-premier-league-clubs-accused-betraying-disabled-fans-third-failing-meet-wheelchair

Euro 2016 is the closest major tournament to Britain since the 2006 World Cup in Germany - that means tens of thousands of travelling fans and the FSF is working hard to offer each and every one the best support.

With that in mind it makes sense to create one page where we can link to a whole host of useful information for fans. We'll also add relevant news updates as they come in - although if you're on Facebook or Twitter it's worth following the FSF feeds as it's often easier to update those with the latest information when we're on-the-move.

- See more at: http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/all-the-latest-updates-for-fans-travelling-to-euro-2016#sthash.k8yuUeeR.dpuf

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Abbey People’s Big Plans for the Big Lunch – could you offer a Helping Hand?

On Sunday, 12th June Abbey People are expecting a great turn out for the fifth annual Big Lunch!
The posters are up, the face-painters ready and the local Glee Club are warming up to serenade the crowds! 
This lively community event kicks off around 12pm on Dudley Road Recreation ground with the Abbey Royal parade – participants are invited to come along dressed as royalty to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.  The Mayor will be helping the celebrations go with a swing.  There are a whole host of stalls booked, from raffles to games and the ‘100 Years of Coconuts’ returning with their coconut shy.  Abbey People are adding a bit of excitement for 2016 with the introduction of a climbing wall! There will also be a marquee with a range of performances including local school choirs making their debut with support from History Works. 

Once again, the free BBQ will kindly be cooked by Barnwell Baptist Church with Cambridge FoodCycle cooking the vegetarian options.  Attendees at the Big Lunch are asked to bring some soft drink or cake to share.
To make the event run smoothly we are in search of local people who will volunteer some time on the day to help.  They will be able to earn time credits – a community currency in which you can earn a credit for each hour you volunteer, these can be exchanged for various activities like a swim at Abbey Leisure complex, entry to the Tower of London, or for a seat on the Abbey People summer coach trip.  Volunteering opportunities include; marshalling, litter picking, helping on stalls.  Are you a first aider and could help if necessary?

Brief plan of event below: Can you offer just an hour, or more, of your time?
8am – helpers needed to set up stalls, marquees and equipment, laying out food, etc.
12pm – Event opens
12-4pm - Throughout the afternoon – Facepainting, performances, stalls, music - help needed – on stalls, litter-picking, first aid, etc.
12.15pm – Royal parade – help with stewarding, first aid
12.30pm – BBQ and food – help with serving, clearing up, etc.
4pm – Close – help with clearing up, etc.!

If you are interested in helping out and earning time credits on the day please email keith@abbeypeople.org.uk

This year, Abbey People are hoping to top the 500 visitors they had last year.  Stuart Wood, Chair of Abbey People commented ‘We’re really excited about the Big Lunch, it’s going to be our biggest yet, with so much going on – something for the whole family. Let’s hope the sun shines! ‘

Event Contact: Wendy Lansdown - Email: wendy@abbeypeople.org.uk - Tel: 07857 661025

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Beers, bandanas and boos: the American Outlaws' grapple with frat-boy soccer from The Guardian

ne of the few positives to take from USA’s 2-0 loss to Colombia on Friday came 15 minutes after the final whistle. Despite an anemic performance from the US, the American Outlaws, the team’s most famous supporters’ group, remained behind to sing for the team, in the hope of motivating them for Tuesday’s match against Costa Rica. For the Outlaws, these shows of diehard support are nothing new. They sold out their entire allocation for the Copa América in two days, and brought the largest group of foreign supporters to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They are the public face of US soccer fandom and, with hype videos like the one produced in conjunction with ESPN for the 2014 World Cup, they act as an increasingly powerful intermediary between the fans, the US soccer federation, and the media. But the Outlaws are going through an identity crisis away from the stands.ne of the few positives to take from USA’s 2-0 loss to Colombia on Friday came 15 minutes after the final whistle. Despite an anemic performance from the US, the American Outlaws, the team’s most famous supporters’ group, remained behind to sing for the team, in the hope of motivating them for Tuesday’s match against Costa Rica. For the Outlaws, these shows of diehard support are nothing new. They sold out their entire allocation for the Copa América in two days, and brought the largest group of foreign supporters to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They are the public face of US soccer fandom and, with hype videos like the one produced in conjunction with ESPN for the 2014 World Cup, they act as an increasingly powerful intermediary between the fans, the US soccer federation, and the media. But the Outlaws are going through an identity crisis away from the stands.

Read more here https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jun/06/american-outlaws-us-soccer-team-supporters-group


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For those who don’t know, as well as writing The Whitehouse Address I am a coach, in fact an 'A licence' coach who works with youth player at a professional academy as well as working with individual players and coaches. As you may well know I am a keen enthusiast of youth development and have a passion for developing players and producing teams who play attacking football with creativity and confidence. So when I was approached last summer by a chairman of a Charter standard grassroots club with the opportunity to improve the standards of coaching and the players I could not resist.

For me it was a great chance to hopefully improve the quality of the players development as well as analysing (on a small sample) the state of grassroots football.


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Shaun Harvey is discussing whether Rangers and Celtic could be involved in Football League shake-up.

Football League CEO Shaun Harvey has appeared to open the door for Rangers and Celtic to be a part of the proposed shake-up in English football.  He added that there would be some issues. the Scottish Sun is reporting.

The Football League have proposed the introduction of a fifth division by the 2019/20 season, The Scottish Sun  claims the  Old Firm could be moving south of the border.

Read more here  http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/7183786/Celtic-and-Rangers-England-switch-possible.html

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Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion organisation, is calling on football supporters to #KlickItOut as the organisation launches a campaign to raise awareness of football-related social media discrimination and how to report such incidents.

The ‘Klick It Out’ campaign is encouraging football supporters to kick social media abuse out of football and promote equality and inclusion.

Supporters can include the #KlickItOut hashtag when talking about the campaign and can also show their backing by sharing their ‘we need #KlickItOut’ message on social media.

Since 2014, Kick It Out has spoken about the issue of online discrimination. The challenge for Kick It Out was, and still is, that incidents occurring on social media do not fall under any football regulation, unless it can be proved that the individual involved is a participant under English football jurisdiction.

Read more here http://klickitout.org/social-media-users-urged-to-klickitout-this-summer/

The Difficulties with Academies & the EPPP from The Whitehouse Address

Why Brentford’s decision is worrying for the future of many academies, but an understandable choice for many Football League clubs

To have decided to close their Academy weeks after sorting out their groups and signing new players for next season seemed very heartless and thoughtless. Perhaps the decision had been made months ago and it was merely a case of letting the season come to an end, acting like business as usual and then hitting the sucker-punch at the end. A pretty devastating one for all the young players within Brentford’s Academy programme who dreams must have felt tarnished in the 90 minute meeting which was held to announce the immediate closure of the Academy. Why had this decision being made, so drastically too, and what does it say about the state of Academies outside the Premier League?

It was an economical and perhaps one could argue analytical decision (this is of course the route Brentford have taken under owner Matthew Benham and the newly appointed co-director's of football Rasmus Ankersen and Phil Giles. Up till now it hasn’t precisely corresponded to success on the pitch, the club seemed in a much better position under the management of Mark Warburton, but this is the route they have chosen to take. 

The decision to close the Academy was based on simple economics. As the statement from the club read “The club must strive to find ways to do things differently to our rivals, in order to compete and progress as a Championship football club. We cannot outspend the vast majority of our competitors therefore we will never shy away from taking the kind of decision that can give us a competitive edge."

At a cost of £1.5m a year to be a Category 2 Academy the club felt this was too much expenditure for the ‘hope’ of ‘producing’ a player for the 1st team, or more importantly it seems these days, a player who can be sold for upwards of £5m to a Premier League club. 

Read more here  http://whitehouseaddress.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-difficulties-with-academies-eppp.html?m=1

Here we go again, then. No sooner had the Football League season come to an end – and with play-offs still to be played for the end of this season, we might well argue that the body isn’t merely warm but is actually still practicing recital of its famous last words – than that the League’s proposals for shaking up its entire structure were released into the public domain. There doesn’t seem to be any area of football that so clearly demonstrates the fundamental line between those who administer the game and those who consume it than these proposals. They only ever seem to demonstrate a game that has little to no interest in the interests of supporters, only in those who are already handsomely rewarded for their involvement in it.

The headline figures are that the Football League proposes to change from three divisions of twenty-four clubs to being four divisions of twenty, and that the League Cup and the Football League Trophy will be retained in some form or another. The proposals already have the “in principle” support of the both the Premier League and the Football Association, so there’s no need for the Football League to worry about what obstacles they may come across there. Supporters, on the other hand, seem fairly low on their list of priorities, as can be seen from their list of objectives from the entire exercise, which are listed as:

– To maximise the number of weekend/Bank Holiday league fixtures;
– To remove where practical fixture congestion and scheduling conflicts;
– To protect/improve financial distributions/income generation for Football League clubs;
– To maintain the Football League Play-Off Finals as the last event of the domestic season.

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IN BRITAIN, the idea of a merger between football clubs fills many supporters with dread. The emotional attachment that forms between a club and its fans means that change is seen as a threat, a break from the norm and the severance of tradition. We’re all a little bit NIMBY (not in my backyard), but when it comes to football, common sense goes out of the window and status quo and comfort blankets are the norm. Club colours, stadiums, names, nicknames, badges, away kits – any suggestion that these should change is greeted with horror.

Read more here https://gameofthepeople.com/2016/05/22/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-merger/

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This is the third season that the Away Fans Feedback Project, run by the Football Supporters' Federation, will measure the experience of the away fan. We will assemble the thoughts and experiences of fans in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, Conference, Conference North/South and League of Wales throughout the season.

We hope that you will return to complete this survey for future matches, and appreciate any help in spreading the word about this project. The more of you that can share this survey on messageboards, Facebook and Twitter the better.

All the answers to the following questions regarding your matchday experience should be with reference to a specific match that you have attended in the 2015/16 season, identified in Question 5, unless stated.

The ultimate aim is to improve the away fans' experience and encourage more fans to travel to watch their team. From this project we will discuss with clubs and the authorities, in an academic fashion, what keeps fans committed to travelling and to the sacrifices they make, what they look for as a travelling fan, their likes, dislikes, and why they feel valued or otherwise.

The survey should take no more than a couple of minutes to complete. All answers are given anonymously, and no personal or identifying data will be passed on to third parties. Ever.

To complete the survey - click here 

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SUPPORTERS DIRECT STATEMENT ON FL PROPOSALS AND CONSULTATION SURVEY 

The SD statement can be found at:
http://www.supporters-direct.org/news-article/sd-statement-regarding-football-league-restructure-proposals

 I’d suggest you read the FL statement first:

http://www.football-league.co.uk/news/article/2016/a-whole-game-solution-3119809.aspx#L37j2OTBKhbPRgmy.99

and then access the SD consultation survey via a link on this page:

http://www.supporters-direct.org/news-article/sd-member-consultation

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The Hillsborough disaster of April 1989 shook British football to its core, but such was the terrible state of Britain’s decrepit, overcrowded, poorly policed terraces that many fans had long predicted such a disaster would unfold.

But even after the fire at Bradford City’s ground in 1985, whenever such fears were raised they were given short shrift. Prior to the semi-final at which 96 of his club’s fans died, Liverpool’s own chief executive, Peter Robinson, contacted the Football Association asking them not to locate the Liverpool supporters in the much smaller Leppings Lane End . If he was ignored, what chance did ordinary fans have in articulating their concerns?

The authorities were animated more by the spectre of hooliganism – and this loomed large in attitudes towards football fans. Supporters were not to be listened to but to be controlled. The sins of the few meant that football fans were collectively caged like animals in creaking, crumbling pens surrounded by perimeter fencing.

​https://theconversation.com/hillsborough-inquest-rights-the-wrongs-but-now-attitudes-towards-fans-must-change-58530

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On the face of it football would seem be a low-impact past time, however as environmental writer Toby Miller explains, the beautiful game is beginning to build up a huge carbon footprint...

The FSF is an important advocate for fan democracy and welfare. It seeks a greater role for the terraces, in the way our clubs are run, and a better deal for people on those terraces.

Although born in Leicester and still a Foxes fan, I cut my teeth at Craven Cottage watching Fulham in the old Third Division. I think my first game was George Cohen’s testimonial, when Fulham past versus present provided the prelude to the 1966 World Cup winners taking on an International XI.
The talent on display, paying tribute to a club great whose career had ended prematurely due to injury, is etched in my mind’s eye. I’m not so sure about the score, and have been unable to confirm it. Maybe 10-6 to the World Cup winners (half the team hadn’t played in the Final, but who’s counting?)

Fulham’s ground, so close to the banks of the Thames, inevitably makes me ponder football’s relationship to the natural environment.

- See more at: http://www.fsf.org.uk/blog/view/the-carbon-bootprint-can-we-make-football-greener#sthash.Uv0Kmx6T.dpuf

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Football loves a fairytale story.
Whether it’s Bournemouth’s rise to the Premier League, Greece winning the European Championship in 2004 or this season’s remarkable title challenge by Leicester City; every so often a story comes along and makes people take notice. One that may have skipped past several people, however, is the rise and lesser-told fairytale of League One’s Burton Albion.

Just over 30 miles from Leicester’s King Power Stadium, Burton Albion have been causing shock waves in League One. Newly promoted, tipped for a brave relegation fight at best, they have proved to be more than expected. Currently sitting in the second automatic promotion spot with only six games to go, they find themselves in a great position to achieve promotion to the Championship.

Promoted to the Football League in 2009, Burton will not be the first team to achieve such a rise if they do achieve promotion. Bournemouth, as mentioned previously, have had their own fairytale story by rising from the bottom of League Two in 2009 to the Premier League this year; arguably, with survival in the Premier League looking near certain they’d be the biggest story in football were it not for Leicester. But, unlike Bournemouth, Burton have not been blessed with a Russian billionaire owner. Instead, they have taken a slower, and at times more difficult, route with local people behind the club.

Read more
http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/04/06/burton-albion-lesser-known-fairytale/

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Now that we have new man at the helm of FIFA, I have a few suggestions for him that might make the game fairer and more attractive. Firstly, officials should no longer to be considered part of the field of play. If a pass hits one of them, play stops and resumes with a dropped ball.

We have all seen promising moves break down because the referee failed to get out of the way of the ball, and though inadvertently, this can sometimes even result in a goal against the team that had the ball. That is not fair. Players who took advantage of this change to waste time by deliberately “passing” to the referee would of course be booked.
​
All free-kicks to the defending side in their penalty area to be taken from the penalty spot. They are rarely taken from where the offence occurred anyway, and this would prevent teams from gaining any advantage. If penalties are taken from the spot, wherever the offence occurred, why not free-kicks

Read more here

http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1209-april-2016/13191-some-law-changes-that-would-improve-football-s-spectacle

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F​inancial fair play-style rules have dramatically improved English football’s financial health in recent years, according to an analysis of clubs’ figures by the accountants, Begbies Traynor.In an annual report on clubs’ accounts, the firm concluded that of the 72 clubs in the Football League, only two lower division clubs, which were not named, show signs of financial distress. No club in the Premier League, which in 2013 introduced regulations to limit clubs’ losses and spending on players’ wages, are in distress; most now make a profit.

“The trickle-down effect of football TV money and good housekeeping forced by the Football League and Revenue & Customs has all but eliminated business distress in English football,” said Gerald Krasner, a Begbies Traynor partner, who was formerly chairman of Leeds United during a period of near insolvency.

Read more here

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/04/football-league-clubs-financial-health-checkup?CMP=share_btn_tw

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FC United of Manchester: how the togetherness turned into disharmony

It has been 11 years since a breakaway group of Manchester United supporters, weary of the commercialism and gluttony of the modern-day sport, and bitterly opposed to Malcolm Glazer’s takeover, set up their own club, and all those people who viewed them with cold, suspicious eyes, from Sir Alex Ferguson down, probably realise now that movement is here to stay.
​
Ferguson described FC United of Manchester as “sad” and stomped out of a press conference when he was asked if he had any words about the team’s first promotion under the management of Karl Marginson, a fruit-and-vegetable delivery man. Ferguson, rising from his seat, had four: “Not interested, not interested.” 

read more below

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/31/fc-united-manchester-broadhurst-park

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Support is growing in the grassroots football community for a switch to a summer football season, according to the results of two new Club Website polls.

Two-thirds (66%) of 1,200 Club Website members surveyed want to see all children’s football moved to a March to November season, with a break for the school summer holidays, compared to less than half (47%) in favour of such a move just three years ago.
​
A second poll found almost half (48%) of our members want to see the entire grassroots football calendar moved from the winter months – an increase of 14% on 2013 – with fewer than one in four (24%) of the 2,300 respondents in favour of keeping the season exactly as it is – a decrease of 9%.
As in 2013, one in five people (19%) don’t want to see a move to summer football but would welcome a winter break.

Read more see link below -

http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/news/2016/02/25/support-strengthens-for-summer-football/

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In spite of the enormous amount of money spent by Premier League clubs over its duration, the January transfer window was not dominated by clubs from any of the game’s traditional European powerhouses. Where there were headlines to be written about it all, those headlines were all written by the clubs of the Chinese Super League, whose financial largesse may have sent a cold chill through the corridors of UEFA and the European Clubs Association, and whose new season starts in less than a month’s time and under greater scrutiny than it has ever seen before.

Over the course of the last ten days, the Chinese transfer record has been broken on three occasions, with Ramires, Jackson Martinez and Alex Teixeira all joining Chinese Super League clubs for a combined total of transfer fee of just over £94 million. And with more than two weeks until the Chinese transfer window closes, there s a strong possibility that we haven’t seen the end of the league’s sudden growth spurt just yet. Just this week, it was reported that the Barcelona defender Dani Alves has been offered £27m over three years by an as yet unnamed CSL club.

The Chinese Super League was formed in 2004, in the slipstream of the national football team’s first – and to date only – appearance in a World Cup finals. This appearance wasn’t particularly successful – the team failed to score in its three group matches prior to elimination – but the formation of the league was intended as a stepping stone towards greater success for the national team as well as attempting to move on from match-fixing scandals that had plagued its predecessor, the Jia-A, since its formation in 1994. As things turned out, these scandals would take a while to clear. As late as 2010, the CSL was beset by a scandal going right to the top of the CFA. The Chinese government took nationwide action against football gambling, match-fixing and corruption, which led to the demotion of two clubs, Guangzhou and Chengdu, and to the arrest of more than twenty officials, including the former head of the CFA.

http://twohundredpercent.net/chinese-super-league-one/

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Aging can be difficult to come to terms with, both in oneself and with others in our lives. There comes a point in your relationship with anyone when you might well look at them and think, “Things can and will never be the same again.” It’s a thought that is both profound and frightening, and I’ve been feeling it about the FA Cup this season. To be fair to myself, I’ve lasted longer than many, if not most. Though I’ve become as tired and jaded as the rest of the world with the media’s almost cynical spinning of the “romance” and “magic” tropes that are now starting to hang around the competition’s neck like a lexicographical albatross, I have done my utmost to try to hang onto the notion that there is something worth clinging onto here.

How much of that, however, is just me raging against the dying of the light? Like a good number of other people who were born in north London in the early 1970s, the FA Cup has a disproportionately special place in my psychological make-up. Never mind the fact that they needed a replay on each occasion and might easily have lost either if not both matches, Spurs winning the FA Cup twice in a row slap bang in the middle of my formative years as a football supporters have, especially when coupled with a hearty interest in the non-league game, proved to be highly determinative in terms of my personality as a football supporter, and even though the professional game has moved away from the FA Cup, I’ve spent a decade and a half, may be two decades, seeking to defend it against a steadily growing group of detractors.

http://twohundredpercent.net/raging-against-dying-fa-cup/

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