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The English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) is delighted to announce the return of its Reward and Recognition campaign, for the second season in 23/24

Reward and Recognition, which was first introduced last season, provides the Association with the opportunity to celebrate the work of ESFA volunteers across the country in a way that hasn’t been explored before. The 22/23 campaign was highly successful, with hundreds of nominations across the award categories and unprecedented numbers of voters getting caught up in the action.

The campaign allows the ESFA to both reward and recognise volunteers in a new way. The ongoing growth and success of schools’ football is down to the dedication and hard work of an army of volunteers across England. It is the intention that the scheme will both celebrate the achievements of those who are already doing so much and also inspire others to get involved in activity in their own area.

How it works

Recognition

The ESFA’s volunteer workforce spans across the country and collectively, these volunteers – from Association Secretaries, Child Welfare Officers to Team Managers and School Teachers – create a vast landscape of schools’ football activity, positively benefitting hundreds of thousands of children each season.

The ESFA is committed to highlighting activity from local Associations and bringing it to the forefront of ESFA communications to celebrate the achievements of schools’ football at a local level and to inspire others to create similar levels of activity in their own areas.

This season, the ESFA is launching its “Spotlight On” campaign, which is designed to feature local activity from Associations across England and to increase engagement with those who take part, with a view to increasing ESFA Association activity further, on a national scale. You can view our first instalment of Spotlight On, which focuses on the activity created in Berkshire below.

The ESFA’s long-standing “Long Service Awards” will also now be absorbed by the R&R campaign, bringing greater recognition to those who have dedicated impressive periods of time to supporting and creating Schools’ Football. The awards for the 22/23 season were announced during the ESFA’s November AGM and were presented as follows:

25 Year Award:

• Mr G Murphy from Consett Schools’ FA

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Mr C Newman from Northumberland County Schools’ FA
• Mr M Brass from Stevenage & District Primary Schools’ FA
• Mr N Pont from Northumberland County Schools’ FA, West Tyne Schools’ FA, South Northumberland Schools’ FA and East Northumberland Schools’ FA
• Mr P Tracey from Northumberland County Schools’ FA
• Mr T Martin from Hertfordshire County Schools’ FA and Hitchin & District Schools’ FA
• Mr S Turpin from Bexley Primary Schools’ FA

The ESFA Long Service Awards have been updated for the 22/23 season onwards, with a “˜Lifetime Achievement Award’ being added as a real landmark achievement for volunteers.

Reward

The ESFA will be launching its award categories at the start of 2024, ready to receive nominations for Association volunteers and school teachers alike, that create inspirational activity for children in England.

We are delighted that this year, the Reward & Recognition Awards will feature their own awards ceremony in the Summer and provide an opportunity for volunteers to come together with other likeminded individuals to celebrate all things “˜Schools’ Football’.

We know that many volunteers don’t give their time to benefit themselves and would rather have their teams benefit from rewards. The ESFA is keen to try and provide awards that recognise the achievements of all and that are also able to support ongoing work and activity.

Look out for further information in the coming weeks.

All season long

We know that volunteers work hard all season round and it may be difficult to quantify their achievements in line with our predefined award categories. So, this season, we would like to invite Associations to let us know when someone that volunteers for you has gone above and beyond or done something truly special in your area. This will help us to tell stories of voluntary success throughout the year, helping to build the picture of activity across the country. We will also collate all the stories we receive throughout the season and put them forward to be judged for the ESFA’s Special Achievement Award, which will celebrate these achievements in a one-off award presentation in the summer.