Mark Hignett & Steve Wilderspin receive recognition for their contribution to Schools Football

SHROPSHIRE SCHOOLS & COLLEGES FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION close the 2013-14 season with considerable praise from the English Schools Football Association. John Read Chief Executive of the English Schools Football Association recently attended  the SSCFA’s  Annual General Meeting held at the Shropshire Football Association’s Headquarters at Greenhous Meadow. In 1996 the Shropshire Football Association and the Shropshire Schools & Colleges FA formed a unique partnership and two decades later now enjoys an enviable regional and national reputation. Nationally, county schools football associations generally rely upon the goodwill of a team of volunteers and very few have the luxury of office accommodation with a salaried General Secretary overseeing the administration. Whilst Shropshire is often regarded as a rural county on the edge of the West Midlands, when it comes to football the county certainly punches above its weight as evidenced by the Shropshire Lads (25+) currently playing professional football. SSCFA runs eight county representative teams with four for girls and four for boys and are managed by a team of sixteen current teachers, many of whom wore the Shropshire shirt with pride before returning to the county after qualifying for the profession. Two of this team of teachers, Steve Wilderspin (Director of Football at Thomas Telford School & U18 SSCFA Team Manager)  and Mark Hignett (Senior Assistant Headteacher at Hadley Learning Community & SSCFA Vice Chairman & Football Development Officer) have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to the development of schools & colleges football within Shropshire. John Read ESFA paid tribute to the work being undertaken in Shropshire commenting “ESFA appreciates the on-going work of Steve Wilderspin with the national U18 team and we are delighted that Mark Hignett is joining the ESFA Council”.  Responding on behalf of SSCFA, Alan Jones commented “Steve and Mark are outstanding individuals who ‘give’ so much to schools and colleges football development beyond their full time teaching responsibilities. In March 2013 SSCFA celebrated 90 years of schools football and during the history of the ESFA  no Shropshire teacher has been appointed to Council.”