The FMHA

The FMHA The Grassroots Mental Health Vault
FREE Mental health support tools for ALL in grassroots football.

We’ve released the next date for our Managing Anger and Emotional Regulation in Grassroots Football training.Tuesday 8 S...
10/08/2026

We’ve released the next date for our Managing Anger and Emotional Regulation in Grassroots Football training.

Tuesday 8 September 2026
6.30pm–9pm
Online via Zoom
£39 per person

This practical session is for coaches, welfare officers, club officials, referees, parents and volunteers who deal with anger, conflict or difficult behaviour around grassroots football.

We’ll look at how to spot escalation before it peaks, what to say when someone is losing control, how to de-escalate difficult situations without making them worse, and when the priority needs to shift from managing behaviour to protecting people.

Using Professor Steve Peters’ Chimp Paradox model, we’ll apply the theory to real matchday situations involving players, parents, coaches, spectators and match officials.

You’ll leave with practical de-escalation scripts, a clearer understanding of the FA disciplinary framework, and an action plan you can take back to your club.

The training also includes a digital certificate, the course presentation and resources to help your club put the learning into practice.

Places are limited, so please book early if you’d like to attend.

County FAs have discount codes - contact yours. Book in the comments:

Post-match reflection should help a child learn from a mistake without turning that mistake into an identity. Discuss wh...
10/08/2026

Post-match reflection should help a child learn from a mistake without turning that mistake into an identity. Discuss what happened, what helped and what they’ll try next.

www.fmha.academy

A thought on what it means to know your number.It's not just about winning grants. (Though it helps with that.)It's abou...
05/08/2026

A thought on what it means to know your number.

It's not just about winning grants. (Though it helps with that.)

It's about walking into every conversation - with a council officer, a potential sponsor, a parent thinking about volunteering - with a different sense of what your club is.

Not a struggling volunteer organisation hoping for the best. A community asset generating documented, traceable, government-methodology-backed social value.

The number changes the conversation. But first it changes you.

Academies do not usually struggle because staff do not care.They struggle because good intentions are hard to carry thro...
04/08/2026

Academies do not usually struggle because staff do not care.

They struggle because good intentions are hard to carry through a whole season, across different departments, age groups and staff changes.

- Someone makes a useful adjustment. Does the next coach know about it?

- A parent raises a concern. Is there a clear way to capture the conversation?

- A player’s needs change. Is anybody reviewing what has actually helped?

The training resource pack gives staff the working tools: player profiles, observation logs, adjustment records, conversation records and review templates.

The branded Hub gives those tools a home inside the academy’s wider support system. Staff can return to the guidance, follow a shared route, and know where to go when the situation is not straightforward.

That is the difference between a good conversation about neurodiversity and a repeatable way of working.

A question worth answering clearly: how does Proof of Play actually calculate social value?Because "estimated social val...
03/08/2026

A question worth answering clearly: how does Proof of Play actually calculate social value?

Because "estimated social value" can mean a lot of things - from rigorous methodology to rough back-of-envelope guesses dressed up with a pie chart. Transparency matters. So here's exactly how it works.

The tool applies published proxy values from primary sources to club-entered data. Every value is traceable. Every source is named and linked in the methodology tab of every report.

The sources:

**HM Treasury Green Book Supplementary Guidance on Wellbeing (2021, uprated to 2024)** - the WELLBY methodology. This is what government departments and NHS commissioners use when evaluating public investment. A WELLBY (Wellbeing Life Year) is currently valued at £15,900.

**Sport England Social Value Model Year 2 (November 2025)** - produced by Sheffield Hallam University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and State of Life. A child aged 11–16 playing twice a week: £4,300 per year. An active adult: £2,600. A disabled adult: £5,300.

**ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2024** - for volunteer economic valuation. £17/hr is conservative.

**NHS Digital data** - for the neurodiversity and mental health overlay. ND prevalence set at 14%, MH difficulty likelihood at 25%. No other grassroots social value tool includes this.

The outputs are estimates - not independently audited SROI reports. The methodology tab on every report makes this explicit. For formal SROI submissions, a Sheffield Hallam SIRC or Portas Consulting evaluation is the appropriate next step.

But as a credible, traceable, club-level estimate built on the same methodological foundations that Sport England and local authorities actually use, it holds up.

Neurodiversity support in an academy does not live with one person.A coach needs a practical way to adjust communication...
03/08/2026

Neurodiversity support in an academy does not live with one person.

A coach needs a practical way to adjust communication. A player care lead needs a sensible record of what helps. A parent needs to know who to speak to without feeling they are making a fuss. And the player needs information that does not talk down to them.

That is why the Hub is designed around three distinct routes:

- Staff Practice Hub: practical guidance on adjustments, conversations, records and escalation.
- Family and Player Hub: clear, shareable guidance on what might be happening, what helps, and where support sits.
- A direct route for sharing what helps: so the club can learn from the player and family, not make assumptions on their behalf.

The point is not to make neurodiversity look tidy on a website.

The point is to make support easier to find, easier to use, and less dependent on one person remembering everything.

29/07/2026

“Great community club” is not evidence. It is a claim. A credible social-value figure, with its assumptions visible, gives a funder something they can assess.

www.proofofplay.uk

Proof of Play sits between anecdote and a full SROI audit. More credible than "we improve community wellbeing." Less exp...
29/07/2026

Proof of Play sits between anecdote and a full SROI audit. More credible than "we improve community wellbeing." Less expensive than a Sheffield Hallam evaluation. Built on the same primary sources.

Designed for club scale.

That's the gap it fills.

29/07/2026

Just one example of what Proof of Play has unearthed for a grassroots club:

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