East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

Date

News Item

ESSDA Season 2026 Second Half

ESSDA teams who played in the 2026 First Half will automatically roll forward to play in the Second Half. Existing teams do not need to reapply to ESSDA or SYFA at this time.  If you want to swap league, please drop me a note and I will make this happen. Thank you

•   The 2015s (11s) will move to play 9v9 for the rest of 2026
•   The 2016s (10s) and 2017s(9s) will play Soccer 7s (7v7s)
•   The 2018s (8s) will play 5v5 and the 2019s (7s) will play 4v4

All teams must follow the SFA Player Journey. Teams playing the wrong format or modifying the rules will be playing unauthorised matches and will be reported to SYFA where they may be fined and/or suspended. All players and officials involved in any match must be properly registered on SFA Comet at status ACTIVE/CONFIRMED.
All teams should familiarise themselves with the SFA Player Journey rules for their match. Do not make up your own playing rules.

The timetable for the new season is:-

•   Sunday 2nd August 2026 -  Last day to notify me about any changes to your team
•   Sunday 9th August 2026 - The fixture schedule for all 7v7 and 9v9 games will be published on this website
•   Sunday 16th August 2026 - The start date of 7v7 and 9v9 fixtures
•   Sunday 29th November 2026 - The last day of the ESSDA season.

At least two registered officials must be present at every match, for each team. One of the two officials must be a registered qualified first aider.
If a first aider is not available, the opposition first aider can be asked to provide first aid cover for both teams. If they say no, then the game must not go ahead.  If a team does not have two registered officials present - the game must not go ahead.  It is not OK for an unregistered parent to act as an official at any match.

Players must only play in one ESSDA match on any match day. Exception is only when there is a shortage of players, and this might allow the game to proceed, but any such players should not be allowed to dominate a game. eg playing Pele players in a Zidane match to ensure a win is completely unacceptable.
Players must not play at multiple age groups even to allow the game to proceed. Those player cannot be registered on SFA Comet to the second age group and therefore would not be registered/insured to play.

The above match day rules are SYFA rules and common throughout all SYFA associations/leagues.

SYFA AGM

The SYFA Annual General Meeting was postponed last week as the meeting did not reach a quorum.  The meeting has been rescheduled for Sunday 26th June 2026 at 6pm.  Please attend if you can. Every club is entitled to one vote for each registered SYFA ID.

SFA Comet

Please make sure that your SFA Comet catalogue for every age group contains at least the minimum number of officials:-

•    A Team Manager
•    At least one SFA 1.2 qualified children's coach
•    At least one qualified first aider
  and
•    There must be at least two adults in the officials list - one person may not hold all the mandatory roles
•     The minimum adult to child ratio is 1::10

It is not sufficient for the coach to hold a first aid qualification to count as the first aider. If someone is acting in multiple capacities, they must be added to the team catalogue with multiple roles. eg Team Coach & First Aider or Team Manager & Team Coach etc.

If your team does not meet the minimum criteria, nobody in the catalogue will be approved and moved to ACTIVE / CONFIRMED.

On MyComet, to be registered, your club must show with a non zero number of players and officials and a status of CONFIRMED.  The number of players must exceed your team allocation. For example: With four teams playing 9v9, you must have at least 4 x 9 = 36 players.

The above three clubs are all showing correctly and would be properly registered.

Arranging Fixtures

When arranging fixtures, please use the Fixtures page to get the up to date contact details for the opposition.
Please try to use the primary contact if possible. Only if that does not work, try the secondary contact.
Please do not use the contact details for anyone else at the club, even if you know them personally. Only use the listed contacts.

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

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

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

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.

ESSDA News Archive

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