Fife Elite bucket collection

A message from Bill Hendry, Head of Fife Elite Football Academy.

This Saturday’s home game v Inverness Caley Thistle sees Fife Elite Football Academy holding a bucket collection before the game. Fife Elite is the regional academy set up in 2014 by the 4 senior clubs in Fife which allowed the clubs to participate in the SFA’s Project Brave.

Dunfermline Athletic have been able to continue to develop young players as a result of this initiative and since its formation 5 years ago the club has had the opportunity to recruit a number of young players through the Academy which it otherwise might not have been able to do so as the costs of 1 Fife Club running an Academy on their own would have made that very difficult to do.

Currently Dunfermline have the following professional players on their roster who have come through the Fife Elite Academy set up…..
Cammy Gill, Stuart Morrison, Callum Smith, Matty Todd, Lewis McCann, Paul Allan, Josh Robertson, Lewis Crosbie, Gregor Jordan, Lewis Sawyers, Paul Brown, Kieran Swanson, Thomas Bragg and Lucas Berry. On top of that a number of Academy players have appeared this season for the reserves in friendlies, Fife Cup and SPFL Reserves.

Fife Elite Football Academy was again placed in 5th place in the SFA table of Measurable Performance Outcomes which awards points for academy players who go on to have a career in the game (not necessarily at the club where they were developed). Whilst this position in the MPO table is based on the collective score of the 4 senior Fife clubs, Dunfermline’s points tally is a significant factor in FEFA being placed where they are. Only Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen have a better points score.

Being in 5th position does in turn bring in additional funding. However, the criteria set out by the SFA for participation in Project Brave demands a significant financial investment and FEFA consistently struggles to meet the associated financial demands. Consequently, occasions such as Saturday’s bucket collection provides the Academy with the opportunity to generate additional much needed funding.

I would ask all Pars fans to seek out our Academy players who will be stationed around the stadium prior to Saturday’s game and help fill up their buckets with coins and notes of the realm.

Regards
Bill Hendry
Head of Fife Elite Football Academy

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