Ethos

The Europa Titans’ Football Club (ETFC) ethos is founded upon the answers to three fundamental questions:

  1. Who is the club for?

  2. Why do Children play football?

  3. How do we measure success?

ETFC was established in 2014 with the aim of fulfilling interests of young players within the community, from which its members come, to participate in an organised team sport – that being football. The Club believes that its existence is for the players, who play football for fun and enjoyment. ETFC aims to help these players develop both in the context of football and team spirit, including physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of playing sport.All of these are attributes the Club believes are beneficial in the daily life of a child. We believe in inclusivity and welcome players of all ages (5-16), gender and ability. We measure success by our size, the few children who leave our Club, and by the development of all players. This guides everything that we do. This is the reason why everyone in the Club must abide by the Club rules and policies.

Training v. Competitive Games

Based on the above ethos, the Club offers membership with the view that training is the key focus and competitive games are an evolutionary step and opportunity to apply skills learnt. With this in mind, the Club should never be viewed as solely a means to play competitive games and is not a conduit for parents to live their aspirations through their children.

Whilst the Club has entered teams into competitive league events, the Club has done so with the aim for early age players (6-11years) to develop and experience the challenges that team sport offers. The Club aims to have the players participate in teams of and against opponents at an appropriate level. Although, football is a sport with only three outcomes (win, lose or draw in a competitive sense), ETFC firmly believes that there is a fourth, and more valuable, outcome that of the great learning that comes through the enjoyment of participating in an activity in a team. ETFC has learnt that players experience different emotions through this learning and the Club appreciates that the euphoria of the players’ own success, in any form (personal or team), brings enjoyment that cannot be measured.

Flexibility

The Club values the contribution made by its active volunteers, who uphold the Club’s ethos. ETFC is committed to allowing the coaches / managers to have autonomy to achieve the Club’s aims within boundaries of its rules and policies. Further, all coaches and managers value the need to offer different challenges to players, foremost in training and in matches, and this extends to providing the experience different situations – this is usually reflected in the rotation of positions at an early stage of a player’s football development. As such, no one team will be a like and this helps to develop and evolve the character of the Club.

Expectations

The Club does guarantee to all members weekly training during the season, but never expects nor guarantees participation in matches every week. As the Club’s younger teams play within a league, in which all other participating clubs support the concept of second matches for all players on the same day of play (to give more playing time within the FA guidelines), this creates better opportunities for players to be able to experience football at an appropriate level for their ability.

Standards

ETFC has Respect Codes that it requires all its members and parents to abide by. The Club does not tolerate poor pitch side behaviour and disrespect in any position (players, coaches and officials). Further, the Club will not tolerate being dictated by members as to when or where they play or who they play with – as we believe this goes against the Club’s ethos and is detrimental to the benefit and interests of the Club (the members as a whole).

In order to achieve our aims and continue to attract players, volunteers and sponsors we realise that the reputation of the club as a whole is of the utmost importance. The good name of Europa Titans Football Club is something to be proud of. It is the responsibility of all those associated with the club to uphold the values that are so important to our continued success.