FA introduces insurance scheme

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The Football Association has been forced to set up an insurance scheme owing to the culture of players being sued over bad tackles. From next season all 11-a-side teams will have to pay up to £82 a year in cover as part of the National Game Insurance Scheme.

There have been cases where players have tried to sue opponents over broken bones owing to rash challenges on the field. From the next season, 15 player squads of Saturday and Sunday league teams will have to pay £26 for the basic package and £82 for the most comprehensive one.

Mike Dowling, secretary of the Birmingham Amateur Football Association feels, it is not so much about the money but more about the cumbersome processes. Personal accident cover which is mandatory may not be as expensive as your kit but is in no way hassle-free.

Most basic insurance which costs a player £2 a season also needs doctor’s certificates and letter. Yet the benefits may be a paltry £100 a week if you break a log and are off work. In case you have children and pay a mortgage to pay off, this amount is pretty negligible for all the hassle undertaken.

He admitted there was a compensation culture problem. In the six seasons that he had been secretary of the Birmingham AFA, there had been three cases of players trying to take litigation action against opposing players or the opposing team. Even a referee can be cited. Usually players try to get most out of a no win, no fee solicitors situation.

NGIS is being provided by the FA’s appointed broker Bluefin Sport. Mike Brown, secretary of the Amateur Football Alliance, says that FA have formed a deal for clubs which is cost effective and fits football. Former Chelsea and England star Graeme Le Saux appears in a two-minute video promoting the plan.

Lower division clubs ask FA for fairer payouts

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Football League clubs are asking the FA to increase the amount of money that it hands out to other divisions. This past Tuesday it was announced that sides from the top flight would be paid as much as £60m over the next four years starting at the 2014 season. However, clubs are asking that the sides do not receive any additional funds.

The 72 Football League clubs met on Wednesday to talk about how payments should be distributed over the next three years. The clubs did not however reach an agreement about how payments should be disbursed and will meet again in May to talk about the matter in more depth.

The Premier League sold the broadcast rights for the next three years to BT and Sky for £3bn which is a very large increase over the past £1.25bn. Overseas rights to air the matches will put that total up to about £5bn. Out of that, parachute payments; which are money that is given to the different sides from top flight and cash that was given to clubs that did not receive parachute money consists about 15% of that total deal.

The Press Association Sport stated that clubs that are a part of the Championship that do not already get parachute payments will given £2.3m each which is more than they would get if they made their own TV deal.

League One Clubs will be given £360,000 and League Two will be given £240,000 which is a 5% to 6% increase. Parachute payments were originally created to help clubs that lost a large amount of revenue when they dropped out of the top division of England.

Even though there has been a lot of debate about solidarity payments and parachute payments the Premier League continues to insist that it does not prevent clubs from eventually being promoted into the Premier League.

FA in no rush to find new England boss

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FA in no rush to find new England boss The Football Association have stated that there have not yet been any approaches made to candidates about becoming the next coach of the English football team.

Earlier in the month, Fabio Capello resigned from the position after he was forced to remove captaincy of the team from John Terry. Since his decision to leave, the team have been looking for a new captain to lead them into Euro 2012, and the other competitions to follow.

The coach for the under 21 team, Stuart Pearce, is currently in the position on a temporary basis and will hold the position when the team face the Netherlands this Wednesday. He has expressed an interest in taking over as the coach of the main team during the European Championship.

It is widely expected that Harry Redknapp is going to be named as the new coach, but he has said that he has not been in talks with anyone about taking over the position yet. Currently Mr Redknapp is the head of Tottenham Hotspur football club.

The chairman of the Football Association is David Bernstein and he has the responsibility of finding a new coach, along with the managing director of the club and its football development manager. Adrian Bevington is the managing director and he has said that internal discussions have been taking place, but no talks with potential coaches have happened yet.

Mr Bevington commented in a statement to Sky News, “We have had several conversations about who is going to replace Capello and we have asked the FA board to make a recommendation. It is important that people know that we are not close to making a decision just yet. No external bodies have been consulted about who we want as the next coach and we feel there is no real need to rush into a decision.”