Girl enjoying football

Positive Weekend Additional Information

Surveys, Images and what the weekend can bring for our officials

  As Positive Weekend is almost upon us, and over 100 clubs and leagues have already signed up, further details on the weekend can now be released.

Surveys

We want Positive Weekend to start some conversations around the county about optimising our provision for young people. We see it as the start of the journey not a standalone event. We want this to be the catalyst for a change in the touchline environment so consistently we have #PraiseNotPressure.

However, we really want to know what our stakeholders think about the weekend but also how we can best continue to raise standards in the weeks and months ahead. To that end we are attaching four different surveys to our website for players, referees, coaches, and parents/carers. Put simply the more surveys that are completed, the more comprehensive the messages will be. This in turn will be pivotal in shaping our work in the county. We would urge all participating clubs and leagues to promote the survey as widely as possible. For our 2014 Silent Weekend we received in excess of thirteen hundred completed surveys. Something similar this time would be brilliant.

The surveys will be available from lunchtime on Saturday 9th March and will remain open until Monday 18th March. 

Images

In order to maximise the publicity and hence the spread of Positive Weekend we will actively welcome match day photographs via our social media platforms. Please bombard us with images of players with big smiles and thumbs up accentuating the positive message of the weekend. Better still can we have BOTH teams in the same picture? We will promote your snaps heavily across our networks using the hashtag #PraiseNotPressure.

We have also challenged clubs to make the weekend as sociable as possible with adults from both sides coming together to enjoy the game together. Again photographs of adults having fun together will be really welcome. We will look to give a prize for the image circulated over the weekend that best encapsulates the ethos of the event.

Referees

Whilst this possibly shouldn’t need saying the Positive Weekend also extends to our referees. One of the biggest factors threatening retention of match officials, especially our younger ones, is the constant drip-feed of criticism and questioning. So for Positive Weekend we would like our parents/carers and volunteers to take time out to reiterate the messages of respect and support for our referees and make a point of engaging in friendly chat with them wherever possible. That pleasant conversation might just keep that official in the game for another week.

If you haven't done so already, email Lancashire FA's Marketing & Communications Officer Harry Lyons, to sign your club or league up to Positive Weekend!