SportBusiness.com

FEEDING FOOTBALL'S GRASS ROOTS

Football Association (FA) director of football development, Sir Trevor Brooking, will launch the Grass Roots Football Show 2005 at The Valley, home of Premier League club Charlton Athletic, on Wednesday (March 2).

The Grass Roots Football Show is the first national event dedicated entirely to the half-a-million plus volunteers in England alone who give up their time to run the game at all non-professional levels.

At the launch will be Faye White, the Arsenal and England ladies captain; Phil Sharp, who ran the line in the 2002 FIFA World Cup final; and former Celtic, Chelsea and Pisa defender Paul Elliott.

The launch will highlight mix of coaching clinics, workshops, debates and master-classes, bringing opportunities to learn, at all levels of the game, for an anticipated 10,000-plus audience.

The show features a coaching arena accommodating 2,000 people and run in conjunction with some of the FA top coaching personnel - as well as The FA Learning Theatre featuring seminars presented by experts from a number of FA departments.

The show takes place on July 16 and 17, at ExCel, one of London’s premier exhibition and conference centres.