Participation Officer (Facilities and Workforce) - Shropshire FA

Job Purpose:

• To support the delivery of The FA National Game Strategy and the Shropshire Football Association Business Strategy.
• To recruit, convert, retain, develop and progress referees to service the game.
• To recruit, retain and develop volunteers in order to effectively develop and deliver grassroots football.
• To ensure that every affiliated football fixture is played on a ‘good' quality pitch.
• To identify and activate priority projects for Football Foundation investment via Local Football Facility Plans. 
• To protect existing football facilities from planning application.
• To contribute to the effective implementation of The FA's Safeguarding 365 for County FAs.
• To support the adoption of FA technology systems across grassroots football.
• To comply with FA rules, regulations, policies, procedures and guidance that are in place from time to time.

Responsibilities

Facilities and Investment:

• Support delivery of all activities that ensure every affiliated football fixture is played on a ‘good' quality pitch including the use of PitchPower and the Hive Groundskeepers Community.
• Track the quantity and quality of football pitches and ground locations for affiliated fixtures.
• Ensure that the outcomes of each facility project are aligned to the Football Foundation measurement framework and the FA's Grassroots Football Strategy.
• Activate grass pitch and smaller projects from Local Football Facility Plans to generate enough demand and deliver against Football Foundation spend targets.
• Support the delivery of support days to each Football Foundation applicant around the Grass Pitch Improvement Programme and Small Grants Programme.
• Support applicants to develop their football development plans to enable them to apply successfully for funding.
• Collaborate with The FA, Football Foundation, Ground Management Association (GMA) and Sport England.

Workforce:

• Identify areas of need for referees across all formats of the game within the locality served by the County FA and implement recruitment strategies accordingly.
• Implement strategies for new referees, to convert them from trainee referees to active referees.
• Support referees within the grassroots game to retain them within refereeing season-on-season.
• Provide an offer of, and lead, the delivery of referee development initiatives for grassroots referees, promotion candidates and referees with the potential and opportunity to progress through the refereeing pyramid.
• Liaise with local leagues to ensure the appointment of appropriately-registered referees.
• Assist in the development of the referee developer workforce: observers, tutors, mentors, coaches and other volunteers involved in supporting referees ensuring that all safeguarding criteria are met.
• Support referee registration ensuring all safeguarding criteria are met.
• Support referees in submitting discipline reports, including reporting discrimination, as well as actively supporting referees following challenging situations.
• Collaborate with the Designated Safeguarding Officer in all matters involving under-18 referees and adults at risk within refereeing.
• Support delivery of the coach development programme, liaising with FA coach development workforce and key stakeholders to meet the needs of the game.
• Develop and deliver an annual action plan to support high-quality volunteer opportunities across grassroots football with an emphasis on gaining more England Accredited clubs and leagues.
• Implement Shropshire FA Coaches Association
• Support the Youth Board to represent young people and identify, discuss and consider local grassroots football issues.
• Work in partnership with other Officers to arrange and deliver CPD events for existing club and leagues' Officers and ensure that enough workshop and training opportunities are available for new volunteers.

General:

• Provide the highest level of customer excellence to support volunteers across all FA Technology systems (FA Events, Whole Game System, Matchday app and Full-Time).
• Risk-assess all The Shropshire Football Association's events and activity for under-18s and where the Shropshire Football Association directly employs or deploys under-18 referees, coaches and volunteers to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place.
• Support messaging so that under-18s and adults at risk in youth and open-age adult grassroots football know how to report concerns about their wellbeing.
• Listen to and consult with under-18s on their experiences of grassroots football as part of the Shropshire Football Association's youth engagement strategy.
• Utilise the feedback from under-18s and adults at risk to enhance the experience and fun and safety in grassroots football.
• Execute tasks as required to meet the Shropshire Football Association's changing priorities.

Essential for the role:

• Ability to work strategically with partner organisations across different sectors to plan and deliver football programmes.
• Project management skills and experience – to plan, set and achieve objectives to deadlines.
• Excellent IT skills, including the use of Microsoft Office applications.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Excellent time management and prioritisation skills.
• Excellent problem-solving and decision- making skills.
• Outstanding communication and presentation skills.
• Exceptional customer service.
• Budget management skills.
• Report-writing skills
• Ability to use data to monitor and evaluate programmes.
• Influencing skills to champion change.
• Practical experience of sports/football/facility development.
• Experience of refereeing and/or referee development.
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of inclusion, equality, anti-discrimination and safeguarding.
• Knowledge of The FA coaching qualification framework.

Desirable for the role:

• Two years' sports development experience
• A current registered referee.
• Practised at developing networks and relationships with a variety of stakeholders to support the delivery of strategic priorities.
• Experience of utilising mapping programmes to support strategic and logistical planning,
• Previous experience of developing capital sports projects.
• Previous experience of successfully applying for funding for a project.
• Previous experience of advising or guiding on a project in a team environment.
• Knowledge and understanding of working with volunteers.
• Capability to create multiple reports, budgets and plans.
• Knowledge of The FA's Grassroots Football Strategy and the National Facility Strategy.
• Experience of project management.
• Experience of utilising mapping programmes to support strategic and logistical planning.
• Knowledge of the Football Foundation and Local Football Facility Plans.