Club submit application to join the FA national league 2014/15

What takes 3 months to plan, 2 years to execute and 1 month to finalise? An application to the FAs elite Futsal competition – the FA national Futsal leagues, it seems. Nobody should underestimate the work involved in establishing a club with professional ambitions.

Back in 2012 the clubs first steering group formulated a strategy and action plan to achieve one sole objective – create a club capable of representing Carlisle in the FA National Futsal leagues.

Since then the strategy has been systematically executed. It has seen the club grow from a group of 5 friends into an FA charter standard club boasting a full club structure including an 80 strong junior academy. Successes along the way include increasing adult participation locally to over 400 people playing on a weekly basis and the implementation of a facility enhancement programme, including the donation of 4 sets of official Futsal goals to community facilities in Carlisle. The club has enjoyed success on the court winning the Northern Futsal Carlisle District League and FA Cup qualification league, whilst finishing runners up in the Boro Futsal Cup in 2013. Forming partnerships has also been important and the club work closely with Carlisle United Football in the Community, Carlisle Youth Zone and Raffles Community Reach. Our profile locally has been raised through social media, the launch of CFTV the clubs dedicated youtube channel and word of mouth, with our twitter following currently standing at over 7000. One of the clubs big aims for 2015 is to establish a fan base and maximise ticket sales for our home games at the Sands Centre.

2014 is an exciting year. Plans are already being put in place for the next 5 years. Big plans.

The FA National Futsal Leagues represent the elite adult Futsal leagues in England and have been co-ordinated and run by The FA since 2008. The top male Futsal clubs in the country compete in the challenging and exciting FA National Futsal Leagues which showcase the best Futsal talent from across the country.

The FA National Futsal Leagues are divided into three regional divisions: the North, South and Midlands leagues. Each regional league has eight clubs that play home and away against each other throughout the season until the leagues reach a conclusion in May when championship and relegation battles are concluded.

The top four clubs at the end of the season from each of the three regional leagues progress into The FA National Futsal Super League. The FA National Futsal Super League consists of four groups, and in each group there is three teams. The three teams in each group play home and away matches against each other between April and May.

The winning teams of each group then compete at The FA Futsal Grand Finals to not only decides which club will be crowned the English national Futsal champions, but also which club will qualify for the ultimate accolade of representing England in the UEFA Futsal Cup.

The FA National Futsal League also has a Second Division where new clubs can enter into the North, Midlands and South based league system and progress to compete for their place in the top tier.

The top Futsal players in the country play in The FA National Futsal Leagues, and this is where The FA selects players for the England national squad. Players and clubs in the National Futsal Leagues are dedicated and hardworking, continuously striving in their efforts to rapidly develop Futsal in this country – particularly the elite end of the game.

All Clubs in the national league are structured and organised and expect full commitment from their players to train regularly and work hard to improve their performance. Carlisle Futsal Club have achieved this and have developed a pool of 20 players who all train and compete regularly. To assess and monitor performance the clubs coaching team have devised a unique player profiling system which provides every individual player with their own profile. The profile is created through individual assessment and testing and covers mental, physical, technical and tactical attribute assessment. This tool is used to track player improvement over time and compliments the clubs team performance analysis system. The aim is to create a professional environment for everyone.

The closing date for applications for the 2014/15 season was 14th March. Jonny Fraser, CFC steering group member and club welfare officer commented:

‘The first stage of the application process in the end has been relatively straightforward, certainly not reflective of the work that goes into establishing a top Futsal club. We set out in 2012 with the objective of creating a club capable of representing Carlisle in the FA national league and its taken over 2 years to get to that position. We have an amazing team of people involved off court who have made it all happen. We had a plan and we stuck to it. There were lots of issues along the way, not least the lack of facilities, which is something we still endure but if our application is successful its only because of the commitment and passion shown by everyone involved over the last 24 months.’

The FA received 18 quality applications and now has the unenviable task of deciding which of the applicants are invited to the next stage of assessment – interview. It is only after this stage that the successful clubs are put forward to enter the FA National Futsal League Division 2 for season 2014/15.

As a club we have done all we can to meet the FAs selection criteria……………….our fate now lies in the hands of the FAs selection committee.