As part of their ongoing community partnership with the Guernsey Football Association (GFA), Deloitte has recently agreed to sponsor the association’s new Youth Council. 

The GFA Youth Council is a group of young people who have a variety of backgrounds within football. They meet on a monthly basis to work on a range of projects that will shape the future of football for young people on the island. 

The purpose of the Youth Council is to support the vision, mission, objectives and performance of the GFA by providing relevant research and insights into the youth game. This will inform current practice and provide important future recommendations for participation and the local football community.

At present, the council is organising a football festival event with the focus of engaging more young people in football and gaining an understanding of why more people do not play. The event is for under 16s and is due to take place in May 2020.

The council is also working in conjunction with the Youth Review Committee (created by the Guernsey Football League Management) to investigate the decline in youth football.  

The committee aims to understand why young people stop playing football and propose how the league can be altered to encourage greater participation.

Heads of the Youth Engagement Action Plan, Joelle Pengelley and Margaret Broome, said: ‘The Guernsey FA Youth Council is delighted to have the support and sponsorship of Deloitte as this will provide much greater opportunities to deliver projects and events for young people in Guernsey who may never have been involved with football before, generating an environment that shows football is for all.’

‘The Youth Council is a fantastic initiative from the GFA and Deloitte is delighted to support the scheme. Participation in sport makes a positive difference to our mental and physical wellbeing, and being part of a team teaches us to be better communicators and how to work together effectively,’ said David Becker, Partner, Deloitte.

For further information about the GFA Youth Council, you can access the Youth Zone on the Guernsey FA website: http://www.guernseyfa.com/players/youth/youth-zone.