The post I was replying to was talking of a match day station off the A63 therefore presumably about a new stadium. Hence my question and my Allamesque comment
Someone I work with also has a lads in the Leeds academy, I don't think they get any funding, and are ferrying him around all over the place most weeks.
This is our strength. I was upset when we signed the people we did that people said to not show them the training ground. I went the other way and said: ‘Come and see. If you want to be a part of it, you will. If you don’t, you’re not right for this club.’ Young players want to come here because of the buzz about the club and how we work.” Liam wants to keep the cabins
So, every club offers this then, or just some? How is their eligibility measured and how does it work? I honestly don't know but in the limited experience I have, all clubs don't provide this for 'poorer kids' which is what you seemed to be saying.
I don't know what arrangements there are at other clubs' academies or what the demographic make up of their academies is. I do think that poorer kids being able to get there is an issue worth considering though, not just dismissing instantly because the mention of underprivileged kids gets your back up.
It doesn’t get my back up. What irritates me is this constant poor old Hull full of underprivileged kids involved in worse struggles than elsewhere and the small town attitude of so many in Hull. Do you think Middlesbrough is full of well off families who send their kids with the chauffeur or in a taxi to the academy 18 miles away?
Like I said I have no idea. But I think that access for all is worth taking into account. Hopefully the club are doing.
HCST would be better off spending time getting the ludicrous overstewarding sorted out. But there you go. This obsession with access to all is a bit silly. Unless you think that only kids from Hull will be joining the academy. What about kids from Brid, Driff, Beverley, Goole even Selby which is within the catchment area?
I think the idea is if it’s in Hull it can be accessed using public transport so kids from Brid, Driff, Beverley, Goole, and Selby, should be able to get there fairly easily.
The young kids I see playing football locally ( Hull @ER) on a Saturday morning and the odd Thursday evening at various indoor pitches throughout the city look far from 'underprivileged' Most of them, especially the boys, aged from 8 upwards, all turn up in variation of Premier League replica shirts, and funny enough the dads do too. All have every type of football boot you can imagine and all the training gear to go with them. Their numbers are impressive too, all teams, boys and girls of all ages seem to have plenty of subsititutes, all play on decent pitches with proper goals and nets and are watched by plenty of people on both touchlines and I see this at every ground I go too to watch my grandaughter. Her under 10 team has three dedicated coaches and they are coached properly. Indoor and outdoor facilities to train on and the club provide everything, even down to warm coats for them all to wear. Its a far cry from my schoolboy and amateur football days when the pitches were often a disgrace, actual goal posts a bonus, and all weather training pitches were unheard of. As for kit, my school team played in a handed down kit that had been doing the rounds of different age groups for a couple of generations. I didn't own a new pair of boots until I was in my 20's ( sound of a violin playing in the background). So, personally I see very little sign of these underprivliged kids in poor old Hull. And they are chaffeur driven to Bishop Burton, door to door.
My grandson is 9 a goalie at Hessle ,got dedicated goalie training tonight , then tomorrow him and his dad who is coach manager are off to St George’s park for training with Mary Earp etc plus the England coaches for the young uns ! It’s totally different now and I’m so pleased for them having these opportunities
Clubs have satellite Academies now for that very reason. City have them in Knottingley and Scunthorpe. Leeds have them in various places up to under 11. The massive clubs have them everywhere. Means they can get hold of kids earlier and bypass the distance rules. The Hull based facilities could easily be at the MKM and not miss out on decent under 9s and under 10s from across the bridge or west Yorkshire.
The "satellite academies" don't count ( or didn't when I worked for numerous different clubs ) as the kids aren't actually "signed" they just get trained by said clubs coaches etc. it's a way of clubs to basically "scout" a hell of a lot of players quickly etc. some clubs even charge parents for the privilege.
How man pitches are there space for? Apart from the indoor facilities and everything else people want. There just isn’t enough room.
There is a lad who played for Ferriby earlier this season who I still speak to a bit as were doing kit for his new club and sponsored him. He had to leave Ferriby where he was very happy and join another club because he has to take his lad to Man Utd from Wakefield 3 nights a week. The dedication and sacrifices parents make is unreal. When I was at the London Broncos I spoke to parents who had to set off from Kent at 3:30pm after school to get their kids to Richmond RFC for training and then do the same journey home at 8:30pm once the kids had finished with a stop on the way home for some food. That was 3 nights a week. With such a well regarded academy and it being the only one in London the kids would literally be coming from all other the South of England 3 x nights a week. I'm not sure it will be much of a hardship for someone from South Cave to drive to the MKM a few nights a week.
There is a lot of space if you include Walton Street. People would just have to buy their tweenies full of soiled bandages from another market!
