Coming Soon - Easter Programme

Details for our Easter Programme will be up shortly.
For immediate details contact community on 01383 730 730.

Mini Kickers

Fun Football Sessions for Pre-School Children (Aged 3-5)

DAFC are looking to fill up our new term classes and there are spaces available in most classes.

Classes are available at: Baldridgeburn Community Centre, Del Farquharson Community Centre, Crossgates Community Centre, Townhill Community Centre, Camdean Community Centre and Blairhall Community Centre.

To book your child into any of the above classes, please contact our Community Team on 01383 730 730 or email community@dafc.co.uk

Community Coach, Roger Arnott addressed a meeting of the Pars Supporters Trust at Pitreavie on Thursday 1st March. He explained his role and successes during his involvement in community football.

"Craig Bruce and I took this over from Hamish French with the oversight of the club themselves. In the past eighteen months I'd like to think that we have done a good job increasing participants in our programme from 350 kids to over 550 kids per week.

"That has been through a lot of hard work delivering sessions to every primary school in the area. Coaching sessions have involved 3000 to 4000 kids over the last year. We are trying to build a relationship and become more structured in the way we deal with primary schools. We see that as an important link into the community.

"We are trying to develop more structured classes, ask kids to master the ball, to be comfortable on the ball and in small sized teams have fun with their football. We have had good positive feedback from that and we can see kids are already developing and doing little Wayne Rooney turns; things that they have seen on TV. It is brilliant.

"We have also a mini kickers programme for three and four year olds, coaching 180 to 200 kids per week just delivering basic motor skills to kids.

"Aside from developing kids, our role in the community is to promote the club and get out there as much as possible. You see more and more kids in our classes wearing Dunfermline strips. When we are picking teams it's nice to see them new Dunfermline strips with their names on the back."

Jim Moffatt, Assistant Director of Youth Football addressed the meeting explaining how he was invited by Jim Leishman and Craig Robertson in October 2006 to head up the youth programme from the U17s down to the U10s.

"They gave me three main responsibilities; to try and improve the quality of the coaching that was going on with the youngsters, to try to improve the quality of the coaching that was going on with the youngsters, to improve the qualaity of the youngster who was coming to the club under these coaches and to improve the talent identification throughout Fife as well.

"It was clearly going to bring me into the coaching, the playing and scouting system.

"In almost four months since then we have the changeover of two or three coaches just to try and up the level; I am happy with the team of 20 coaches and I have 160 children now operating in that system.

"There's a long way to go. It is important for a team like Dunfermline; even looking at Arsenal down south, they don't come any bigger than that, there are players now coming through in that Arsenal side who have been products of the youth system. We as a club have got to try and work harder at trying to see that breakthrough into the first team programme.

"It is not an easy thing to do, it is a ruthless game, it is a really difficult thing to do to pull yoyurself through from a 12 year old all the way through to the first team but we have got to aim to get that done. We know that there is a great fall off of youngsters who make their way up but we need to make that better. We have got to try and provide our own youngsters in the future.

"It is an enjoyable side of things. Clearly you are meeting with a lot of parents, a lot of children, a lot of coaches - the whole spectrum but the link at the moment is good buit there are ways that we can improve it. We are certainly addressing that.

"Jim Leishman asked me to put together a plan or at least an audit of where I thought we were at the moment. I presented that to him about three weeks after I had started the job. Leish took a couple of weeks to take a look at that and gave me a green light to press ahead and get as much done as I can.

"It is not a short term fix, it is a long term fix but at the same time there are about 200 action points and we are starting to eat into these and slowly pick these off one at a time."

The meeting also heard from community users of Pitreavie who had concerns about the facilities at Pitreavie.

The Pars Trust appear to be crucial to the future development at Pitreavie. Their ability to raise funds and operate the facilty efficiently will be important .