THE Football Conference, sponsored by Blue Square, have launched their innovative Sportsmanship Awards in support of The Football Association's 'Respect' Campaign.
Football allows us all, whatever our particular role, an outlet of excitement and involvement, but if it is going to be enjoyed we must RESPECT the game, our opponents, the match officials and those who have paid to watch 'their' sport.
We look to all the participants - Managers, Players, Referees and Fans - to play their part in raising our standards and RESPECT for each other. MANAGERS do get frustrated when things are not going well, PLAYERS do often react hastily, REFEREES do not leave their cards at home and the FANS often have had 'a bad week at the office', BUT we all have to pull together on this one and show to our young people in particular, that football really can be 'the beautiful game'.
'Sports 360', the sports advertising specialist, has leapt at the opportunity to sponsor these new Awards, because as Director Martin James says: "We feel RESPECT is a very important aspect of our game today. If, by offering £15,000 prize money (£5,000 for each division), we can help remind and encourage Clubs of the values and ethos of what football is all about, then it is a most worthwhile sponsorship."
The colours RED and YELLOW are playing too prominent a part in our game and so we are going to financially reward those Clubs who can influence their Staff, Players and Fans to RESPECT the game as a whole.
How will it work?
A Blue Square Premier Club will start with 60 points and the Blue Square North and South Clubs will start with 54 points, since they play fewer games. Every time a YELLOW card is shown, 1 point will be lost and for every RED card shown, 3 points will be deducted.
In the BSP if say 8 Clubs have managed to keep any of the points and between them they retained 33 points in total, then each point/share would be worth £5k divided by 33 or £151-50. Therefore in the BSP, if Club A has lost 52 of its original 60 points, it would therefore have 8 shares of the pool and each share would be worth £151- 50, so the Club could earn 8 x £151-50 or £1,212.
In the BSN or BSS, if say 5 Clubs between them retained 18 points, then each point/share would be worth £5k divided by 18 or £277-75. Therefore if Club B lost 47 points of its 54, then 7 shares of the pool of £5,000 could be worth £277-75 each and the Club would enjoy £1,944-25.
Conference Chairman, Brian Lee adds - 'The Football Conference operates at the very heart of our communities and we are determined to demonstrate our commitment to the 'RESPECT' programme'.
The Football Conference Sportsmanship tables will be highlighted each week during the season in the Non-League Paper and online at www.footballconference.co.uk
