New Fife Elite Regional Academy to be formed

Craig McWhirter "Dunfermline's Academy and Under 20's has been one of the major success stories at the Club"

Fife Football Association

New Fife Elite Regional Academy to be formed

Fife Football Association and its four Senior Professional Clubs are pleased to announce that with effect from season 2014/15, the four Clubs will combine their current Youth Academy structures and apply to compete in the Club Academy Scotland Elite Programme as the Fife Elite Football Academy. (FEFA)

Currently, the four Fife Clubs each have their own teams and compete in the Club Academy Scotland Initiative Level Programme.

With effect from next season the Fife Regional Academy will compete in the Elite Programme with Clubs such as Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and Celtic also involved.

Although the Regional Academy will mean a reduction in players from the current four Senior Clubs individual academies, a close link will be maintained with the recently announced Fife Football Performance Academy run by the Scottish FA Development Department and supported by Fife Council.

John Lints, Fife Football Association Chairman said
"By combining the resources of the four Fife Senior Clubs, we will be able to significantly increase the level of investment in player development and offer a far higher level of Technical Coaching, Sports Science and Medical Provision.

By linking with the Fife Football Performance Academy supported by Fife Council, we can now identify a player pathway in Fife where a young footballer can develop and progress from grass roots football to play professional football for one of the four Senior Fife Clubs"

For Dunfermline Athletic FC, Craig McWhirter, Director with responsibility for Football Matters said, "Dunfermline's Academy and Under 20's has been one of the major success stories at the Club and has been widely recognised for its achievements and for the development of a substantial number of young talented footballers. When combined with a progressive management team and clear Youth strategy, the results have been evident for all to see. The Administrator did not support the Academy financially and its survival was down to benefactors and fans' groups so it has been a very long and careful process in determining the best way forward for DAFC's Academy. The Club cannot make any decision that was felt to undermine or lessen this commitment. Therefore, the views of the fans and the welfare of the players, parents and coaches has been at the forefront of the decision making process. This has not been reached overnight. There have been months of meetings, dialogue and discussions with Forth Valley Regional Academy, the SFA & the participating Clubs.

The reason that there was no formal communication earlier was down to the fact that we all thought that the earliest date that this could happen would be 2015-6. However, as a result of a recent Club Academy Scotland review, it became evident that it was essential that we needed to act for 2014-5, if we were to participate in the Elite games programme. DAFC's involvement substantially enhances the chances of Elite status given that the Club had been planning for a stand-alone 4* (Elite) application for 2014-5. However, there is still a lot be done.

Because of the strength of our commitment and our desire to ensure that all players and coaches within the current Academies are given every opportunity to participate, the SFA has allowed a lot of flexibility over the first 12 months. There will be transitional arrangements next season as we move from the Initiative to Elite level but there will be 6 squads formed from Under 11 to Under 17 and with the links to the Fife Football Performance Academy we will be able to identify the best talent at an early age to ensure that we are at the forefront of player development and that we are able to give Fife youngsters the best chance possible to become a professional football player.

I would ask that the parents, players, coaches, fans, funders, and everyone involved with the 4 Clubs get behind this decision and give us the support needed to make this a success and produce an Academy that is demonstrably one of the best in the Country."