Edmonton Rangers has been the combined and continued effort of a dedicated committee of people, some of whom have served since its founding in 1988, long beyond the call of parental duty!

Our club is community based and works to offer the young kids and growing teenagers of Edmonton and surrounding areas the chance to play football at a competitive level. We are a family based club and all are welcome to come and support at training and matches. Every year we have a celebration of our teams' success at the Presentation Evening, where every team member receives recognition and trophies.

Our playing season is aligned to the FA, and usually runs from September to May, culminating in our annual and very successful ERFC Tournament (7 aside) in June. Trials for the various teams are usually held in May/June, so please feel free to contact the club at any time to find out what spaces are available.

Our teams represent all the different cultures of the Edmonton area, there is no discrimination at any level. We thrive on the diversity of talented kids from all different backgrounds that make up the core of our club.

ERFC are very keen to use the most up to date and effective methods of football development. We have worked with the Birmingham University Psychological team on motivation and sports psychology techniques, were one of the pioneers of Futsal in our area and have a dedicated Youth Development Team to supervise and advise teams on their paths.

We pride ourselves on helping our players to achieve their full potential through fitness, discipline and enjoyment of the game. We are not school teachers and so we have to work hard to engage and interest our players rather than force them to develop.

We would hope that our results speak for themselves.

Training

ERFC have a cross platform training program tailor made to the teams needs, combining traditional grass football training with more recent and newer training techniques, such as Futsal. We use Futsal as a development technique to be directly applied to the grass pitch, and the results are plain to see in the style of football that we play.

Our coaches spend a great amount of time and thought developing new and engaging ways for the team to train and develop their skills, and there is a committed and structured approach to all training sessions.

During the season we train at Oakthorpe Playing Fields or Tottenhall Sports Ground for grass experience.

We also augment our grass sessions with weekly Futsal training at The Selby Centre. This has proved to be a firm favourite and extremely productive. Each year we enter Futsal teams into the UK National Futsal Championship held in Birmingham.

We are always looking for new and exciting ways to develop our training program and we have a number of exciting plans for training in the very near future. We will announce these as they develop.

Futsal

ERFC have included Futsal as a part of their training programme for the past 6 years. We play Futsal for the unmistakeable benefits that it brings to the grass pitch in terms of skill, speed and energy.

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced small sided football game that originates from South America in the 1930s. It is widely played across the world, and is the small sided football format that is officially recognised by both UEFA and FIFA. The nature of the game places a large emphasis on technical skill and ability in situations of high pressure, and is subsequently an excellent breeding ground for football competencies that can be translated into the 11-a-side format of the game.

Confidence on the ball, receiving a pass under pressure, decision-making in 1v1 situations, and ball retention are all important fundamental skills that we look to develop in young football players that are practiced regularly within a game environment in Futsal.

Futsal also supports young player development in other ways. The speed and fluidity of the game supports players in understanding and improving their skills in the transition (counter-attacking) phase. In Futsal, teams are often either defending a counter-attack or in the process of launching one after breaking down their opponents. This is recognised in modern football as a vital component for young players to understand and apply. This ebbing and flowing of the game also results in all players being required to feel comfortable in both a defending and attacking situation.

Due to the limited space on a Futsal court, the game intrinsically encourages movement and rotation from players as well as a sense of innovation and creativity to unlock defences and to create some space for yourself or team-mates. In many ways it replicates what is required from attacking midfielders and forwards in the 11-a-side game when trying to break through opposition in and around the 18 yard box.

Futsal is by no means the magic cure for developing a more technically competent football player, but as illustrated above Futsal can support and play an important role in improving the technical qualities of the future generation of 11-a-side players. Futsal aligns closely to The FA Future Game Coaching Strategy which provides a blueprint for how The FA would like to see young English players being developed in England in order to succeed at the highest level. The Future Game outlines the need to embrace more small sided games at younger age groups for many of the reasons as mentioned in this document. Futsal can play an integral part in helping to realise the aims and ambitions of developing more proficient young football players through the delivery of the FA Future Game Strategy.