Reigate Priory Youth Football Club Club Football Charter

Our Ethos:

To enable and teach our members to play football while respecting the officials, opposition and supporters of both teams. To utilise the FA four corner coaching model encompassing the four key attributes, Physical, Technical, Psychological and Social, to help them gain confidence, learn to work as a team and improve decision making, not only in football but life in general in all aspects.

Everyone is welcome to play for RPYFC, wear the historic shirt with pride and achieve their potential.

Our Club:

Founded in 1870 and one of the oldest clubs in the world, we are an incorporated organisation and therefore a separate legal entity which gives club members financial protection. Also we have adopted CASC status (Community Amateur Sports Club) which provides a number of charity-type tax benefits. The club operates on a non-profit making basis.

The club is run by a committee and network of Managers, Coaches, Administrators, Welfare Officers and First Aiders, all of whom are volunteers, other than our professional coaches who deliver the training to our teams each week.

Your Support:

Reigate Priory has grown considerably over the last decade and has become such a success because of the hard work the volunteers who run the club have put into it. We strive to provide a safe and exhilarating sporting environment for our players to grow and flourish, and parental support is essential if we are to achieve this. However, no matter how much we try, we can’t always keep everyone happy, all of the time. We therefore work on the principle that what’s best for the majority of a team has to be what we go with. We therefore ask you to bear this in mind.

Players need to receive as much guidance in training as they can, but when they run over the white line, it is their game, we let them make the decisions. A calm, measured, supportive presence is how we work, with our Managers on a match day delivering positive vocal support before, during and after the game.

Your support is vital and should be praising, encouraging, and reinforcing the positives whilst softening errors on the pitch with ‘unlucky’, ‘nearly’ or ‘could see what you were trying’. As a club we wish to be known for our positive and encouraging behaviour towards all of the players and officials, not just our own. Respect the referee’s decisions, applaud our own and our opposition’s play and please avoid coaching the players during the game, so that mixed messages are avoided.

Over time, self-reliant footballing decisions, positioning, anticipation, vision, confidence, experience etc will accumulate. Football development happens over years not over a single season. Our progress over the longer term will be stronger as individuals and teams with a more passive and inclusive approach.

General Information:

Mini Soccer (U9 – U10)
Maximum number of players per team is 7v7 with a squad of 10 – 12

9-a-side Football (U11 – U12)
Maximum number of players per team is 9v9 with a squad of 12 – 14

11-a-side Football (U13 +)
Maximum number of players per team is 11v11 with a squad of 14 – 18

All our teams currently play in either the Epsom & Ewell League or South Surrey Youth League on Saturdays, or on Sundays in the Surrey Youth League.

Team Creation & Streaming

Reigate Priory teams enter non-competitive Mini Soccer at the U9 Age Group, with our teams initially selected by our Saturday Soccer School Coaches who will base their decisions on how a player has developed during their time at the Soccer School. This will be based on a mixture of technical and physical attributes with the aim of creating an even ability level in each team across the year group.

Throughout a player’s time at the club, our Qualified Coaches who run the weekly training along with our Volunteer Managers who manage match days, will continuously monitor the progress of each individual to ensure they are playing at the right level in the right team. Generally, moves between teams only take place in the Summer months ahead of the next season.

The problems of not streaming young, developing players are as follows:

  • Stronger players aren’t challenged by playing against players of a similar (or better) ability level and end up being the “superstar” week after week, playing at a level that’s too easy for them.
  • Weaker players rely on their more able team mates to do everything whilst they get less of the ball and so don’t develop. They may enjoy playing in a winning team, but ask yourself how much the player who stands at the back whilst their “superstar” teammate scores 5 goals a game is actually developing as a player?
  • Frustration, loss of confidence, players blaming others who consistently struggle to contribute at the level you’re playing at.
  • Divisions are organised to accommodate teams of increasing ability. Appropriate team placement can be difficult and incorrect when using teams without similar ability players
  • Your best players potentially leave to join a club that has streamed so they can play at a higher level, with and against better players.
  • Weaker players who remain in the wrong team may give up football completely. Our aim is to keep as many players playing football for as long as possible, Understanding the Benefits The club understands that a player initially may not be happy about the idea that they’re moving teams. They probably won’t understand why they can’t just carry on as things are and concepts like “player development” aren’t going to mean much to many junior players. Please therefore consider the following points:

The right level of challenge – playing with and against players of a similar ability level allows the player to improve in a way that they won’t if they’re either way out of their depth or waltzing through every game scoring 10 goals a match.

Equal game time – we all want to rotate fairly, but the reality is that a lot of the “weaker” players may well have found themselves subbed off more than the stronger ones. It is much easier for a Manager, especially once football becomes competitive from U12 upwards, to stick to equal game time if the players are all of a reasonably similar level and the team is playing at the right level.

Confidence – playing with and against similar ability players means the child who struggled to get in the game when they were one of the weaker players in their previous team will find themselves contributing far more. Suddenly becoming the top scorer, player of the match, best defender on the pitch etc can do wonderful things for their confidence.

Making new friends – actually, for their long-term social development, being used to making new friends rather than staying in their “safe” group of friends can be a great skill to acquire. When the children move to secondary school, having a wider group of friends through having played football with lots of different people is a huge advantage in terms of fitting in.

Questions & Answers:

1) Q: Does my child need to wear shin pads? 
A: Players cannot play Development Football (U9toU18) without shin pads, either in matches or in training

2) Q: My child was born in August, how do I know which year group they should be in?
A: The qualifying date is the 31st August each year. Therefore, if your child is aged 13 on August31st they will be in the U14 team for the season that starts in September

3) Q: Does the club have a Safeguarding Officer and if so who is it?
A: Yes, the club has Club Welfare Officers, Pierre and Carin Campbell

4) Q: Who will manage the team prior to and on match days?
A: All the Managers have volunteered to assist on matchdays and are usually parents.They are all put through the FA Level 1 coaching badge and are first aid trained so you can be assured your child will be looked after. Each team also has a volunteer Administrator, again more often than not a parent, who assists with managing the adminisration for the team

5) Q: Will my child get an equal amount of game time as the rest of the players?
A: At Mini-soccer level,yes,very much so and we also will rotate positions regularly.Once the players get older and move into competitive football, we always aim to make game time as fair as is practically possible, but this is aided significantly if the teams are streamed correctly and the players are of similar ability. We therefore ask for your understanding and support in this area.

6) Q: What time are kick offs for the matches at weekends?
A: These can vary each week, especially away games where we have no control over them. League rules typically require that kick off times are between 9.30am and 12.30pm on Saturdays, and 10am and 2pm on Sundays. Kick-off times for home fixtures will be mixed throughout the season fairly between the teams.

7) Q: Will my child play every week?
A: It is up to the Manager of each team whether they bring the whole squad to each match. They may choose to operate on a rotational basis, but either way your child will get the opportunity to play in the same number of matches as all the other players.

8) Q: Who should I speak to regarding any issues surrounding our team?
A: Initially speak to your Manager. If the matter needs to be escalated then speak to your Year Group Lead Manager, who will escalate it further if necessary to the Club Secretary.

9) Q: What is included in the annual subscription cost?
A: Your child will be supplied with the loan of a kit (Shirt, Shorts, Socks and Jacket) for each season. Your subscription also includes all training costs, league and cup match and referee fees and league entrance fees.