Keely Brown, the County Development Manager at Derbyshire County FA, presents the FA Charter Standard award to Oliver Couch, Chairman of Chesterfield Junior Blues FC, at half time in the match against Port Vale.

Also in the picture, from the left, are Danny Harris, Vice-Chairman of CJBFC, Steve Coe, Secretary of CJBFC, and Angie Harper, Football Development Officer at DCFA.

The FA's Charter Standard Award recognises and rewards clubs who are making the experience of playing the game a positive one. Created in February 2001 and open to all clubs up to non-league level, the award is given to club's that show they are well run and sustainable with safety and child protection paramount.

In today's society, parents want to know their child is playing football in a safe environment, in the care of adults who are insured, CRB checked and qualified as coaches. Displaying The FA's Charter Standard Award gives the security that these minimum requirements are in place and that the club has a commitment to player and coach development as well as raising the standards of behaviour across the game. By showing people what a good club should look like the parents, coaches and volunteers who drive the grassroots game have a clear focus in which to channel their endless energy and enthusiasm.

With over 50 per cent of all grassroots youth teams having achieved Charter Standard status the award is recognised and supported across the country as a vehicle for improving standards. In order to keep raising these standards we want that figure to eclipse 75 per cent in the next four years.

Any club, regardless of size or number of teams can attain Charter Standard status. The three levels of award club's can work towards are; Charter Standard Club Youth/Adult, Charter Standard Development Club and Charter Standard Community Club.  

 Increasing participation, raising standards of behaviour, developing better players and running the game more effectively are the four key areas central to our newly published vision for improving the game over the next four years. In light of this and with the recent launch of our RESPECT campaign, the existing criteria for achieving the Charter Standard Award will be updated over the next 12 months to ensure we continue to raise the standards across the whole of the grassroots game. 

By July 2009, The FA aim to have all Charter Standard Clubs signed up to the RESPECT campaign. Club Codes of Conduct will need to adhere to the RESPECT guidelines including designated spectator areas at games encouraging parents and spectators to take a step back from the pitch and support the teams in a more responsible manner. Team captains will also have a greater role to play- communicating with the referee and taking responsibility for player's behaviour.

Developing better players and coaches is also a high priority. Equipping grassroots coaches with age appropriate coaching knowledge developed on our introductory module and Youth awards will be key to developing better players.  These courses will ensure that a coach within your club will have a better understanding of 'how' to coach children and how the long term player development and four  corner model can be used to support your player's development.

For more info about The FA's Charter Standard programme log click here