East of Scotland Soccer Development Association


Home News PVG General Info Help Contact Us              

News

Fixtures
Registrations
Forms
Discipline
Player Wanted

21st January 2025

Insurance.

Teams playing friendlies and/or festivals without permission are not insured. Playing while not insured is a serious child protection issue.

Only players listed in your team catalogue as ACTIVE on SFA Comet are insured to play.
eg  In a 2017s match, only players listed in the 2017s catalogue as ACTIVE are insured. 
Any players born in 2018 who are playing in the 2017s match must be listed in the 2017s catalogue as ACTIVE.

This means that clubs are not insured to play a team of 2018s in a 2017s match.

The above rules apply to every ESSDA year group.  eg 2014s playing in a 2013s match must be catalogued to the 2014s squad.


20th January 2025

ESSDA Registrations

Registrations received so far for 2025 season. I am expecting 600 teams in total

Year Groups Pele Iniesta Maradona Zidane Beckham Saturday Sunday Grand Total
2013 7 7 5 2 4     25
2014 7 8 12 9 3     39
2015 10 7 12 7 4     40
2016 4 6 4 7 5     26
2017           23 20 43
2018           24 16 40
Grand Total 28 28 33 25 16 47 36 213


17th January 2025

ESSDA Communications & SPOND

At the 2024 AGM, it was agreed that we try a new form of communication between ESSDA and our member clubs. The chosen application is SPOND, which is already in use by many ESSDA Clubs. You can add SPOND on your smart phone or desktop by visiting https://www.spond.com/ or by downloading from your APP Store.

To ensure that your club is included in the new communication, we would like at least one person from each year group at every club to sign up.

(**CORRECTED LINK**)
To register you need to go to https://club.spond.com/landing/signup/eastofscotlandso/form/085633693F3347728510C693D81BD3DE and select your year group from the drop down list as you go through the registration form. To register with multiple year groups, register for one group and add a comment at the end of the form in the comments box, and you will be added to the other groups.


16th January 2025

SYFA Registration, SFA Comet, Player Pathway, Festival Permits...

Have you registered completely for SYFA 2025 season? Are you having difficulty getting to grips with SFA Comet?
Darren from ESSDA is planning to hold a couple of online support sessions to help with registrations, friendlies, match rules etc

Session 1 : Monday 27th January 2025 from 19:30-20:30
Session 2 : Monday 10th February 2025 from 19:30-20:30

Zoom details will be communicated nearer the time. You will be able to drop into the meeting and ask your question and seek assistance and/or clarification on any aspect of children's football.


16th January 2025

SYFA Registration via SFA Comet

You might find this video helpful when using SFA Comet - Scottish Football Association Self Service Portal - SYFA Small Sided Affiliation Process

Players, coaches and officials must be at status ACTIVE in their team catalogue to be approved.

Coaches and officials must be saved as SUBMITTED before SFA/SYFA will pick them up to vet and approve. They will not be picked up if left at status ENTERED.


15th January 2025

Permits to play friendlies

I am receiving lots of requests to play friendly fixtures. A friendly fixture without a permit is not authorised and will not be insured. Playing fixtures while not insured is a serious child protection incident.

Unfortunately, most of the permit requests I have received have been rejected. To get a permit, both teams must be properly registered on SFA Comet for the 2025 season.
If no action has been taken on SFA Comet, you are very unlikely to be properly registered, unless you are year group 2013 and were properly registered last season.

To be properly registered,

1)  You must have applied on SFA Comet and paid the 2025 SYFA registration fee. Your team status must be APPROVED.

2)  You must have registered all your coaches and officials and they must be in the correct year group catalogue and at a status of ACTIVE

3)  You must have registered all your players and they must be in the catalogue and at a status of ACTIVE.

The SYFA reiterated the above today with the statement "Please remember that if a team has not completed all steps, they do not have any insurance for the 2025 season and should not be training or playing."

Both sides must be fully SYFA registered before any permission will be given. Check the registration page for your club status.
You are not registered if your Comet ID is not being displayed, or if it is displayed with a status of NOT REG or NOT PAID.


15th January 2025

ESSDA Registrations

Registrations received so far for 2025 season. I am expecting 600 teams in total

Year Groups Pele Iniesta Maradona Zidane Beckham :saturday :sunday Grand Total
2013 5 7 3 2 2     19
2014 3 5 8 5 1     23
2015 7 6 8 5 2     28
2016 4 5 2 3 4     18
2017           6 20 26
2018           7 16 23
Grand Total 19 24 21 15 9 13 36 137


9th January 2025

SYFA Registrations for season 2025

All clubs must register their various year groups with SYFA for season 2025. Existing 2013s are automatically registered for their transition half season before moving to 11v11 in the summer.
Check your registration on SFA Comet or on the Registration Page.

The following clubs have not registered any teams on SFA Comet for the 2025 season. Permission is required to play any friendly fixture and permission will not be given to unregistered teams as they will not be insured to play.

Arniston Rangers, Bonnyrigg Rose FC, Castlevale YDC, Civil Service Strollers, Cockenzie Star, Corstorphine Dynamo, Craigroyston BC, Cramond FC, Dalkeith Thistle, Dunbar United Colts, Easthouses Lily MWFC Academy, Edinburgh City, Edinburgh South, Gala Fairydean, Gullane Athletic, Haddington Athletic, Hutchison Vale, Leith Athletic, Lochend FC, Longniddry Villa, Lothian Colts, Musselburgh Youngstars, Newtongrange Star, North Berwick Colts, Peebles FC, Portobello CFA, Preston Athletic, Redhall Star YFC, Rosewell FA, Salvesen CFC, Tranent FC, Tynecastle FC

To be properly SYFA registered, all your coaches. officials and players need to be ACTIVE in the appropriate SFA Comet catalogue.
ESSDA registration, for all year groups, including 2013s, is required by 15th February 2025 - see Application Menu.


6th January 2025

SYFA Registration via SFA Comet

You might find this video helpful when using SFA Comet - Scottish Football Association Self Service Portal - SYFA Small Sided Affiliation Process


5th January 2025

ESSDA Registration

ESSDA registration is now open for 2025. All teams must register with ESSDA, including age 12s year 2013s.  Go to ESSDA Application Forms page

Applications are due by 15th February 2025 and the season will start on weekend of 1st/2nd March 2025

All ESSDA scheduled and friendly fixtures must follow the SFA Player Pathway.
The publication of results/scores of any ESSDA matches on any social media is not allowed. See SYFA Media Policy.

ESSDA scheduled 7v7 and 9v9 fixtures will be played on a Sunday morning.
ESSDA teams playing 4v4 or 5v5 may opt for the Saturday or Sunday morning festivals. Saturday morning in Midlothian and Sunday morning in Edinburgh.


5th January 2025

SYFA Registration for 2025 and SFA Comet

All ESSDA Clubs must be registered with SYFA before the start of the ESSDA season and before they play any friendly fixture or festival in 2025 season. Playing while not registered and without permission, will mean you are not insured.

Existing 2013s year groups will have their 2024 SYFA registration carried forward to 2025. Check your SYFA registration on the Registration Page.
All other year groups must register with SYFA for 2025 using the new SFA Comet system.

To be properly registered on SFA Comet -

  •   Each year group must have an SFA Comet ID with a status of CONFIRMED linked to an ESSDA Competition.
  •   All team coaches and team officials must be added to a catalogue. Each catalogue must contain
    •  at least one team manager/team secretary
    •  at least one coach with an SFA 1.2 children's coaching badge per team playing in ESSDA
    •  at least one first aider per team playing in ESSDA
    •  all other helpers and officials must be registered on SFA Comet and in the catalogue.
  •   All players must be registered on SFA Comet and added to the catalogue for the year group in which they play.
    • eg Any player playing in the 2017 teams, including underage players born in 2018, must be added to the 2017 catalogue.
    • eg Players in the 2017 catalogue are not allowed to play for any other year group.
    • The maximum number of underage players in any catalogue is FIVE, regardless of the number of teams playing in ESSDA.

5th January 2025

Permission to play Friendlies & Festivals

ESSDA permission is required for any indoor or outdoor friendly fixture. Without permission your game is unauthorised and uninsured.

The SYFA Supplementary & Playing Rules detail a winter shutdown of all outdoor small sided football between the second weekend in December to the second weekend in January inclusive.  To play any outdoor fixtures on or after 7th December 2025 until 12th January 2025 will require explicit SYFA permission from Hampden.
Indoor fixtures during this period and all other outdoor fixtures require permission as usual. Please see permission menu.

SYFA at Hampden have decided that the shutdown will operate as "No matches, friendly matches included, shall be played between the 16th of December 2024 and 13th of January 2025 without the consent of the SYFA. Clubs will be permitted to play friendly matches indoor or participate in Futsal Festivals during this period."
If you wish to play a friendly fixture on the weekend of 7th/8th December 2024, please submit your request to SYFA at Hampden, where they will approve.

Playing any match without a permit may invalidate your insurance. Playing without insurance is a serious child protection issue.

These are national SYFA rules, not merely local ESSDA rules.


1st January 2025

Happy New Year 2025


27th December 2024

Edinburgh Indoor Winter Youth League

The SYFA have approved the Edinburgh Winter Youth League. See https://www.sportspathwaygroup.com/events/edinburghindoorwinteryouthleague/
Open to 2017 & 2018 year groups at World of Football from 19/01/2025 to 23/02/25  Register here https://edinburghindoorwinteryouthleague.cups.nu/en/j/public/reg

Clubs taking part require SYFA permission and must be SYFA registered for 2025 before applying for permission.
Please complete
Tournament Application - Scotland (£10) and return to me with reference SC 25 / 85 to get permission to play.


6th September 2024

SYFA Contacts

The SYFA is currently swamped with enquiries and are working through their backlog as quickly as possible.

For a list of SYFA contacts, please see the SYFA page.


23rd August 2024

Formal Complaints

Anyone who wants to make a formal complaint about any aspect of ESSDA or ESSDA matches must follow the SYFA Complaint Management System. This can be viewed at http://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk/index.php/members-corner/complaints-management-system

Complaints must be made in writing to Hampden using the forms available on SYFA website.

The Complaint Process consists of several steps:

Stage 1) Discussion with the party the complaint is about
Stage 2) Telephone or email enquiry to SYFA
Stage 3)  Lodging a formal complaint with SYFA
Final Stage) Complaint referred to a senior person within SYFA

Feedback on ESSDA Matches can be made using the ESSDA Monitoring Form. or directly to Darren as the Disciplinary Secretary using Contact Us page


21st August 2024

Scouts at ESSDA matches

Please see below communication from the SFA Children’s Wellbeing Department:-

We have received reports that an individual(s) may be approaching clubs impersonating as a scout. We are currently looking into this; however, we would like to take this opportunity to remind clubs of best practice:

  •  Scouts must not have direct and unsupervised contact with children or young people.
  •  Clubs/associations must take steps to ensure that the identities of their Scouts are published, for example on a website, to ensure that identities can be verified at all times
  •  Clubs/associations must issue an ID card to all Scouts, which contains their name, photograph and role as a Scout for the club. The ID card should only be valid for one season and must be renewed on an annual basis.
  •  Scouts must not attend club training and/or skill development sessions unless they have prior agreement with the relevant club representative.
  •  Scouts must contact the club at least 72 hours in advance of the game to request attendance and provide information of the game they wish to attend.
  •  Scouts must not approach parents, carers or others known to the child or young person personally, in connection with their child’s involvement in football without firstly doing the following: -
    • The express permission of the Head of Recruitment or equivalent club/association official who has responsibility for player recruitment within the scout’s club or association; and –
    • The express permission from the club where the child or young person is already playing.

If you, or any of your staff/volunteers are approached by a scout please ensure that you:

  •  See a valid ID card and check it has been issued within the past year
  •  Verify their identity, contact details and interest in the player(s) with the club they are representing to ensure they are genuine.

If you doubt the authenticity of anyone acting as a scout, or the above details do not check out you should report the matter to the police. We would also ask that you inform the Scottish FA Wellbeing and Protection team on Childrenswellbeing@scottishfa.co.uk
Can you please ensure that you share this with your heads of academies, coaching staff, and anyone else you feel is appropriate at your club.
In addition, we would also ask that you take time to highlight to children and young people, parents and carers:

  •  The correct procedures for Scouts
  •  What children and young people and parents and carers should do if they are approached directly by a Scout
  •  A reminder of the Child Wellbeing and Protection Officer contact details

6th August 2024

Update from ESSDA Disciplinary Secretary

Please read the full update from Darren McGinnis (ESSDA Disciplinary Secretary) on the Referee Page.
Referees for ESSDA 9v9 games are optional, but where clubs opt to use a referee, please follow the new process agreed between ESSDA and Edinburgh & District Referees.

See the the Referee Page for

  • 9v9 update - In 2024 First Half we had unprecedented volume of disciplinary incidents at 9v9 games. This has to stop!!
  • Booking a Referee - details on how to book a referee, dates and timelines https://www.edinburghanddistrictreferees.co.uk/appointments/ agreed by ESSDA and Edinburgh Referees.
  • Team Lines - 9v9 games with a referee. Both teams must give Team Lines to the referee. See how  to produce team-lines using the new SFA Comet system
  • Red cards - read about new disciplinary process for players and officials who receive a red card from an SFA Referee

All 2013 year group teams playing 9v9s in 2024 Second Half must familiarise themselves with the process above and detailed on Referee Page


12th January 2024

Social Media & Club Websites

The SYFA small sided games rules on the SYFA website (see https://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk) prohibit the publication of results on websites and social media.

      Results
      It is unacceptable for a league and/or club to post results from development matches on to any website or publish in any newsletter or newspaper
.

Please ensure nobody connected to your club publishes the results of any of your development football games.
All small sided football games are development football. All ESSDA games are development football.


1st January 2024

ESSDA News Archive

To see old ESSDA news, go to the ESSDA News Archive Page



 


 

Home ] Fixtures ] Registrations ] Forms ] Discipline ] Player Wanted ]

Please use the Contact Us page to send questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified on: 20/01/2025