Football Association Chairman Greg Clarke and newly appointed Chief Executive Mark Bullingham visited the County Ground (home of the Herefordshire FA) on Tuesday to meet staff and answer questions on the future of football both locally and nationally.
The pair were also shown the site of the new artificial grass pitch with work due to start soon on the project, Greg Clarke agreed artificial pitches played a key part in halting the decline in participation numbers. Mark Bullingham was also encouraged by the new facility commenting “there are two big areas we can influence to keep people involved in football and that is the quality of coaching and the quality of the playing experience. Pitches like this one in Hereford will play a major role in addressing the latter of these two key issues.”
The FA staff confirmed future improvements to the FA’s IT services intend to help reduce the administration workload on the volunteer workforce and hope this would encourage more people to get involved in grassroots football. Mark Bullingham and Greg Clarke also responded to questions on the sale of Wembley and plans to boost the FA’s offer for women’s & girls’ football and disability football.