What does the future hold for the MGBSFL?

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Firstly let's touch upon the positives, it was really pleasing to see so many clubs well represented at what was in effect a voluntary meeting. In addition, I'd estimate that 90% of the people in attendance contributed with an opinion or a question at some point. It's clear, therefore, that there are a lot of people very passionate about the league and its future.

"Frustratingly, though, there wasn't much achieved from the meeting. We need to draw a clear distinction between firstly making sure we maintain the status quo of current clubs and secondly attracting new players and new teams. Both were discussed last night but I can't see really what conclusive action has come from the get together. It's so important now that the committee, and all stakeholders come up with a concrete action plan that can hopefully help the league halt the decline. There are a number of ideas that can help but as I said at the outset of the meeting there is no quick fix and it would be foolish to think that's the case.

"We have a good product that is loved by all those that take part, what's important now is it is steered in the right path to let it thrive for as long as possible."

ROB RICHMAN (North London Raiders A)

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Maccabi GB have been expressing concern for the continuing decline in numbers of teams to our affiliate MGBSFL for some time. We are aware that the decline in participant numbers is following a national trend and it is undoubted that life style patterns have changed since the League was formed. Nevertheless, we know that there are still many players who highly value their Sunday morning games and the League remains a bedrock of sporting Jewish life within our community.

A few years ago the AJY League disappeared completely as there was no room for two Junior Leagues. The Maccabi Primary League was also struggling until a year or two ago. It was recognised that the strength in numbers was up to 11/12 years of age but players between 12–18 had all but disappeared, many to the Watford Friendly league who currently have around 40 all Jewish teams competing. The Junior League was on the point of closure until it re-invented itself and under Chairman Laurence Thorne it now flourishes with some 500 players each Sunday.

I would urge the League’s Management Committee to consider taking any steps necessary which could arrest the decline by making the management of teams easier for the players, including any reasonable rule changes which the clubs demand. There are measures which can be taken now which collectively might help. In addition the League with the help of Maccabi GB should mount a positive and determined action plan to reignite interest in the League which for generations has formed a vital part of our Jewish social fabric. Study the database with all the players’ details on it and contact the players whose teams have disbanded, maybe some would still play in newly formed teams? Also could two currently struggling teams merge to form a stronger new one?

It is clear that running a team well takes a lot of time and energy and everything should be done to make this job easier, not harder, and it is the Management Committee’s duty to soften its sometimes hard-line approach to enforcing rules. We all appreciate the importance of rules but flexibility and reasonableness in order to help is essential.

The League’s future existence is in serious doubt and none of us wants to stand by and witness its demise. We will redouble our efforts to work with the League’s Management Executive, the leading clubs and figures in the MGBSFL to ensure that we do everything possible to keep the League from an uncertain and worrying future.

DAVID PINNICK (Chairman Maccabi GB)

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"There are two distinctly different issues at hand here. 1) How can we best serve the sides we do have and encourage them to remain participating? And 2) How do we grow the league?

"Unfortunately the meeting on Monday, as welcome as it was, was not as productive as it could have been because these two issues kept becoming conflated. Roll-on roll-off subs, emergency registrations and other initiatives that were debated certainly make life more convenient for current sides and they are to be welcomed. But those rules do nothing to attract new sides - the other problem we have.

"As I said at the meeting, new sides won't just spring up from the earth. The only way to get them is to go out, work hard at it and find them. In my view, to attract new teams someone needs to be contacting former managers and seeing if there is scope for old sides to return, start making inroads to the JSOCs in London to encourage more university and sixth form teams and also work the various communities in London. London is one of the greatest Jewish communities in terms of diversity and if Oakwood can get 50 northern footballers, I refuse to believe there are not 25 French, Spanish, eastern European Jews out there who want to play. The key is finding them. No one is doing that.

"Additionally, it was pleasing to hear some sort of recognition for the support that managers need. The league is on thin ice right now and is essentially being propped up by Raiders, FC Team, Oakwood, Hendon, London Lions and Redbridge who between us account for nearly 50 per cent of the whole competition. All it takes is 10 people to say 'enough is enough' and the league is gone.

"But, to echo Rob Richman, there will be no 'lightbulb' rule change where 20 new teams suddenly join. I don't believe the introduction of non-Jewish players would change much either, despite the pleas of some.

"I'm glad to see the communal newspapers taking an interest in what is a great communal institution."

JASON STEIN (Manager of Oakwood B)

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It was great to see so many in the room caring about the future of Maccabi football.

Nothing was ever going to get decided last night but it was a great starting point. I sympathise with David as he had to try and control a meeting and with so many different opinions in what is a fairly broad, generic subject it was always going to be difficult.

It is clear we need to attract new teams otherwise the league will fold in 10 years - no question.

However there are three main areas we are trying to cover all in one meeting. They all need to be split up and discussed separately in my opinion:

1. Jewish Youth
2. Current state of MSFL
3. Attracting New Teams

I will be trying to write a plan of how I see this all working.

In terms of the current state of MSFL and ensuring teams don't fold etc, I think we will all work towards improvements and they will come in from next season ie roll-on, roll-off subs, less bureaucracy, fewer fines etc. The topic of emergency transfers and having a pool of players is a good shout/guest players.

One of the biggest questions from me from last night on this topic is whether we actually need to be a FA League? We will have more flexibility without it?

To be honest as chairman of one of the biggest clubs in Jewish football if all these changes come in or not it won’t make a difference to our participation. We will continue with three strong healthy teams and support the league regardless of any current rules changes.

My biggest concern is where the new teams are coming from. We need to work harder. The league has to have a committee member to work alongside a Maccabi GB (who is paid) to drum up interest in the MSFL. They need to meet with UJIA on a quarterly basis, they need to meet with Jsocs and come up with ideas.

We should put together a highlight reel of the MSFL and every quarter a representative from MSFL big clubs should go up to the JSsoc and talk openly and honestly about the MSFL:

- Manchester JSOC - Oakwood - Jason Stein
- Nottingham - Raiders - Rob Richman
- Birmigham - FC Team - Mitch Young
- London - Hendon - Rav Kon

I would even pay these guys to do it.

Maccabi GB have to be more involved in this - they have to WORK with not separately the MSFL.

We can then have incentives for uni teams coming in such as reduced fees etc etc - one idea I had was to have a job fair from Chairman who have their own companies etc

Once we have the Uni side working after a year, we can then look to the Jewish school sixth form strategy which I think is massive opportunity and go from there.

MITCH YOUNG (Chairman of FC Team)

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So I don't feel like anything was resolved last night and I always come away from these meetings with the view that it's just another chance for a few people to stretch their vocal chords and flex their Maccabi 'muscles'.

There were a number of interesting questions thrown at the board but as usual they were unanswered and we were told to move on, probably because they don't have the answers.

I also thought it was a bit strange that Rob Shooman had such a strong view on maintaining/growing the league, considering one of his teams has folded this season and his other team wouldn't help us (Woodford) out with an earlier KO because they're Arsenal fans and didn’t want to accommodate us Spurs fans. This is what I mean by it’s just a chance for some people to flex their muscles.

I asked David if he knew why so many teams have left and he was quick to say "lack of interest, getting old etc" before swiftly moving on, but my next question was again going to be "Why?" ... Why is there a lack of interest? Why didn't they stay in the league? There's no point trying to find a solution for something if you don't know why/how it broke. If you dissect it - 30 odd teams have left the league in the last six years or so, that's A LOT of players. You can't tell me they're all too old or just can’t be bothered? My guess is that there wasn't enough input from the Board to help them sustain existence, or grow.

Roll-on, roll-off subs is 100 per cent not the answer, and neither is an NFL style play-off system, both make a mockery of football. Why break football? As I said last night to David, if there’s say five teams who each have 5/6 subs every week who don’t play often, and the ultimately leave the club, why not start a two or three new teams? thats an extra four to six league games for each team to play in the season. There’s enough players in North London who know each other from different teams who could do that, surely?

I have a lot of respect for David and what he has done for the MSFL, but maybe it's time to introduce some more energy to the board. I’m not saying replace David, but bring someone in who can be a bit more pro-active, who can help with finding new teams/players. I think there's a need for a salesman-type person on the board, someone whose sole purpose is to generate interest in the MSFL via speaking to defunct clubs, Schools, Uni, Shuls etc, and to report back to the board with their findings so that they can offer an incentive to join/rejoin.

There's money in the bank - why not offer a free kit for new teams in their first year, lower registration fees etc?

I could go on, but I'll wait until the next GM where we speak about the same stuff that hasn't been done or at least tested.

DARYL KAY (Joint-manager Woodford Wanderers)

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Attracting new teams is not the answer. There is most definitely a national trend that more and more kids/teens/adults are not participating in 11 aside football.

At one point last night, I was thinking back to when I first started out playing in the Jewish league for SPEC at nine-years-old (22 years ago)!

The reality is back then, the global economy was far more stable.

Adults/parents may have worked less hours for more or less the same money as today and the general cost of living was far less with affordability of things (houses/holidays/food/utilities/petrol etc) far greater.

I remember friends' parents and even my dad running teams back then – and it just doesn’t happen anymore. Much of it is down to time, commitment and supporting families.

Other important factors why I feel there has been such a decline is down to the enhancement of technology, the growth of Powerleague and focus on work and social life.

Again, thinking back to way back when, I had an Amstrad computer that I had to self-program myself to create games and I also had a Gameboy.

When we wanted to speak to friends, we called each other on house phones.

As silly as it may sound, Playstations, Xbox’s, iPhones etc have taken away a huge social aspect of life for kids that they are growing up playing on things like this rather than getting together with their mates from school, Hebrew classes, Jewish social clubs and playing football.

Unfortunately it’s just the nature of modern day life and the natural progression of technology in society.

For many, there is also a huge emphasis on learning how to earn money and the importance of income at such a young age now (whether that’s from working hard in school/uni/or going to work) which again, is quite rightly taking precedence over social activities.

I think our league needs to find stability for the time being.

It’s important that the teams currently involved, stay involved and that has to be down to keeping current players interested.

Hearing that Los Blancos may fold at some stage and FC Team may lose a couple of teams is not what anyone wants to hear.

Whilst it’s not unanimous, I really do believe that roll on/roll off subs will allow squads to utilise all of their players in the fairest way possible and keep everyone interested.

We had a situation not so long ago where a couple of our players didn’t want to get up on a cold Sunday morning to be a sub for 60 minutes.

When we realised it was a Morrison Cup game which allows this ruling, our squad grew because players knew that they would get a fair amount of football.

I mentioned last night that this is not the correct attitude to have, however our group of players are all around 30 years old, have other commitments and don’t want to stand on the sidelines if need be.

Introducing roll on/roll off subs will keep everyone interested and players won’t feel that they have to leave a club to find regular football elsewhere.

I know this is far from the saving grace of Jewish football and is only really a drop in the ocean, but it will stop people feeling like they don’t get enough game time and will consequently keep squads together.

If squads are rotated fairly (as I do with mine), it should entice groups of players will stick together.

We all want to win games but my philosophy is keeping things fair and making it enjoyable for everyone involved without singling out a best starting 11 or match day squad of 14 and ‘dropping’ my remaining 10 squad members (subject to availability).

DAN SHAFRON (Manager of Real Sosobad)

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I am not too sure what to make of last night's meeting if I am honest. We all know that any changes for the better will take a long time to implement – I do not think there is any short-cut answer.

I sent suggestions to improve the League's structure which in turn might make the whole process of playing Sunday League football more enjoyable. But we DO need to attract more teams as much as retaining what we have. There is a whole mixture of contributory factors leading to teams pulling out.

The gap between the Maccabi Junior League and the senior MSFL is far too wide. I did not know that the Junior League stopped at only 11, so Jewish players are being lost to Maccabi football in between and it is little wonder fewer teams are joining. One of my suggestions was to implement a Maccabi Junior Division – almost as a feeder league to the MSFL – but would we have enough teams to have a successful thriving league? Martin Berliner seemed to think that this would be very difficult to get off the ground, what with the Watford Friendly League existing.

In the meantime, I think a working sub-committee should be set up to tap the Jewish clubs, associations, colleges, synagogues and communities in London via social media and start advertising and publicising Maccabi football. Perhaps Maccabi GB could play a bigger part in this area.

On my part, I think the League can improve a lot for next season – financing better facilities, temporary transfers, emergency transfers, smaller divisions, more cups being some ideas. Making the overall process of Sunday League football more attractive might be a start. I have attached the document I sent to David Wolff – these are my ideas. Will they bring help to new teams and more players? If everything was implemented, possibly. Will they happen? Probably no! I really do not know.

The way the League is set-up at the moment, and with fewer youngsters seemingly joining the MSFL, I can see Temple Fortune moving to the Masters League under-35s (like Chigwell did) and that would be another casualty for the MSFL. Come May, we would have done 40 seasons after all! Joking aside, my immediate objective is to see out a very difficult season and then review our position as a club.

NIGEL KYTE (Chairman, Temple Fortune)

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Last night - good turnout, lots of passion, great to see that people care but ... few concrete proposals (not that these could be voted upon/enacted until an AGM so there’s still time for these to surface) and idealist me was hoping for a eureka moment that didn’t come.

Three comments stood out for me:
1. Comparing what we have now to a 65-team league of a few seasons ago is wrong and doesn’t do anyone any favours.
2. We still have a good, strong league and that is something to be proud of (so let’s stop knocking it and start praising it/being proud of it a bit more.
3. We need to arrest the decline before we focus on growing numbers (though I see that these are two conflated comments as the decline in net numbers may be stopped by sourcing/attracting new teams).

Perhaps we’ll see roll-on, roll-off subs and the committee have agreed to look at what can be done around fees for transfers (this is, in effect, just a more laborious way of an emergency loan) so there are positives that I’m sure we can work on/deliver on. Perhaps we can discuss reducing fees for new teams or some such financial support for them for their first one/two seasons and that may help too.

However, we’re so hamstrung by the ridiculous, officious and well-meaning-but-utterly-inane FA rules that we’re limited by what we can do, e.g. no teams of under 18’s without a level one coach, emergency registrations / transfers less than two days before a game not allowed etc…) that there’s a limit to what can practically happen from football/league management sense. I hope people appreciate that though I’m not sure they do. I want the league to thrive as much as the next person but these are worrying times for grass-roots football as a whole. Many of the frustrations that we expressed last night are a wider FA issue but I’d hold as much hope for reform here as Fifa under Blatter.

The answer, for me, is not withdrawing from the FA by the way as that could lead to huge problems attracting/retaining referees and many of the bigger clubs will still want to be FA registered so they can play in the London FA competitions.

ANDY MYERSON (MGBSFL Referees Secretary)

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Rather than looking to change what appears to be a broken model would the teams and the league not be far better served by being truly honest with themselves and admit that the product on offer is simply no longer as much in demand as previous and will only suffer further demises in the future in its present format.

Having been involved in junior football for a number of years we realised it could not continue under the guise of Maccabi & AJY Leagues and in order to ensure the clubs continued to survive we recognised the need to offer a more competitive and stimulating environment and took teams into leagues such as the Watford Friendly League where my club London Maccabi Lions has an ever increasing and indeed thriving section which has been followed up by others and clubs and membership continue to flourish and grow

Sunday football at its best is social football and if the players wish to play with their Jewish friends then surely they can still do so but by moving their teams to many of the other leagues in existence on a Sunday

Those that wish to play at higher level can look outside of Sunday football if their priority is to play at a better standard

The teams that have folded this year has done so due to lack of players – have they all subsequently joined up with other teams in the league? Most likely not, and therefore the trend of players leaving the league has continued into this season and no doubt will follow the same pattern going forward.

The very fact that the league used to consist of 60-plus teams and now has half as many clearly shows that the demand for the MGBSFL is not what it was and unless teams look very seriously at following the model undertaken by teams in junior football then in a short amount of time more of these clubs will also cease to exist.

NICKY BLOOM (former Junior manager, Maccabi London Lions & referee)

Email your thoughts to dcaro@thejc.com