Players, coaches, referees and volunteers are invited to the first ever Essex County FA ‘Community Road Show’ on Wednesday July 2 from 7:15pm at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford.

Visitors will be able to see the FA Community Shield and meet former World Cup footballer, Matt Holland.

Roadshows are a means of gathering intelligence to help construct county plans and details will be shared about development programmes such as FA Tesco Skills and Vauxhall Mash-Ups. Local Soccability club Healthy4Life will be amongst the contributors.

The event will be hosted by Kirsty Clarke, Chair of the new County FA Inclusion Advisory Group, and ex-Ipswich Town and Republic of Ireland midfielder Holland. Information will be shared to display ways of taking part in the game and getting involved in County FA decision-making processes, increasing the representation from ethnic backgrounds.

Essex County FA Inclusion Officer, Mark Healy, is looking forward to a productive evening: “The purpose of the event will be to share our developments in making the game more inclusive and accessible to people from underrepresented groups.

“This allows us to network with the ‘football family’, including those within and outside the football structures. This feedback will then help shape key working areas for the next county development plan.”

For details, call Essex County FA Inclusion Officer, Mark Healy, on (01245) 393090 or E-Mail mark.healy@essexfa.com