Have to admit, I had to Google mjpl (I did guess it would be that!).
The Midland Junior Premier League was set up in 2004 with the intention to bridge the gap between academy and grassroots football - it had age group teams from U12-U16 for many of the biggest non league teams in the Midlands, and clubs who were successful in their local leagues were often encouraged to enter the League to play against the best teams in the Midlands, so to speak. Up until 2011, the MJPL operated and featured these big clubs from the Midlands but then there came a number of issues if I remember rightly - their website was shut down, there were concerns about the standard of the league (e.g. big scoreline differences like 10-0 victories were quite common, and it was believed that this was because too many clubs, playing under the banner of a professional club , were not actually that good).
Thanks walsgrave - a very thorough comparison!
Youth football is quite a fascinating topic especially in this day and age where many more players are breaking through at 18-20 from non league having never stepped foot on pristine academy pitches before - I think it brings us back to the importance of treating under-16 football as something for enjoyment.
We have a different problem here in Somerset - grassroots play on a Saturday morning (apparently so they don't clash with Sunday morning rugby), so players who have been in grassroots team can switch to jpl at under 11, resulting in a drop at grassroots!
Enjoyment and fun should be key for young players. Kids at eight given sheets to monitor diets and regular training with limits to game time / other sports with friends has a real impact socially for them.
Italy, Spain and Brazil have it all on iFollow
More to the point were they all wearing their tee shirts?
What about St Andrews hospitality boxes?
This is true. My son played for Nuneaton Schools but as he progressed up the age groups more and more of his team mates opted to play MJPL on Saturday mornings. The district team in his final year of playing was considerably weaker than when he started. He played MJPL when the district team finished when he was 15.. He played for Nuneaton Town youth team in the Midland Floodlit League from age 18 to 20 and that was a good standard of football.
I seem to remember around 10 years ago when I was playing, Nuneaton Town launched their MJPL academy from under 14 to under 18, with additional teams in the MFYL and the Leicestershire Youth Floodlit Leagues at Youth team level, and they were particularly good (winning MJPL cups/doing well in the leagues). For some of the younger age groups, they put out a joint MJPL and schools FA team so that they could compete in both. There is generally a lack of decent pitches in Nuneaton so they would play at places like Griff and Coton, Haunchwood, Atherstone and Bulkington (though I don't rmemeber where the schools FA team played). If I remember rightly, the youth team was scrapped due to racism and possibly financial issues but then relaunched again the year after and did pretty well!
Nuneaton did have joint Youth and MJPL teams, the former playing mid week (home games at Liberty Way) the latter playing Saturday mornings (home games at Griff and Coton). My son's second and last season with the youth team was the season you mention. It ended under a cloud due to allegations of racist comments made by some Nuneaton players to black players playing for Chasetown. (My son, who played in that game, said that there were racist comments made but that some of the boys who were suspended as a result of this were not the ones responsible). Unfortunately, there were one or two idiot boys in the team that season who also had idiot dad's as well. It caused quite a forore at the time, making national news and drawing comments from former professionals on the way Nuneaton had handled the issue.
That rings a lot of bells, yes - I was a few age groups below. Back in the days when Nuneaton Town was on the up as a progressive, modern club looking to break into the football league and created an academy to reflect that ambition.
He had a really good two years, played with and against some very good players. He also played at some good venues including Lilleshall, Telford Utd and Hendesford Town. The latter two grounds would certainly be league standard. The two main highlights would have been playing at the Bescot Stadium against the Walsall youth team (Nuneaton 2-0 up after half an hour and outplaying Walsall before they hieventually ran out of steam and lost 5-2 in a Midlands Junior Floodlit Cup game) and beating Stratford Town at Rugby Town's ground to win the Birmingham Youth Cup. My son is 26 this year and that will be the best standard he played at although he has gone on to work in football, though not as a player.
The MFYL seemed to be a much higher standard league back then compared to now (though it is hard to judge), but simply looking at the quality of teams etc. Walsall's youth set up has always seemed a bit confusing - they play at Birmingham County FA and entered 'non-academy' competitions such as the MFYL cup (I'm happy to be corrected but was the MFYL Cup opened up to professional academies? And by that I mean not just those college programmes that Birmingham City seem to run, but the actual Under 18 teams of league clubs).
