https://vault.thefmha.com/, https://linktr.ee/dannymatharu

The FMHA, Mirfield (2026)

02/04/2026

Sport England funds its Active Partnerships as System Partners, a designation that comes with five-year funding cycles and rigorous evaluation requirements.

The evaluation framework, developed with Ipsos, New Philanthropy Capital and Sheffield Hallam University, measures systemic change: not how many people are active, but whether the system around them has changed.

Demonstrating that grassroots clubs across the area are generating quantified, HM Treasury-aligned social value, and that the AP has made that possible, is the kind of evidence that fits the framework's emphasis on systemic change.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 gives APs the club-level data they currently can't access.

02/04/2026

A coach says, "I need more from you in the second half" at half-time. For a neurotypical player, that's motivational. For an autistic player, it's an instruction they can't decode - more what? More running? More tackles? More intensity?

Actually, what does intensity mean - where do you want me to be more intense...?

The instruction is emotionally clear but operationally vague.

Simple reframe: be specific. "I want you to press the centre-back when she receives the ball and close down within 2 seconds." Same intent, different delivery, completely different outcome.

And here's the thing - that second instruction works better for most players anyway. Not just neurodivergent ones.

The point: small changes in coaching communication can unlock players you're currently losing. You might think you've identified their ceiling. You haven't. You've just identified the mismatch between how their brain works and how you're talking to them.

What's one instruction you give regularly that could be more specific?

02/04/2026

County FAs report upward to The FA on inclusion, participation growth and community impact. The data they receive from affiliated clubs is almost entirely transactional - player registrations, affiliation fees, disciplinary records.

There's no mechanism to capture what those clubs actually do for the communities they serve. Proof of Play gives County FAs an aggregated dashboard of every affiliated club that's completed an assessment, total social value, NHS savings, volunteer contribution, and deprivation profile - all from one login.

That's the kind of data The FA increasingly wants, and few County FAs can provide it.

02/04/2026

You post a question in a Facebook group:

"How do I support a player with ADHD who struggles with transitions?"

Three helpful replies.

Then Dave shows up:

"ADHD is just an excuse. Kids need discipline. Welcome to the real world."

Sound familiar?

Facebook groups are unmoderated cesspits where the minority ruins it for the majority.

FMHA Academy provides:

✅ FIERCELY moderated community

✅ Consequences for destructive behaviour

✅ Verified expertise

✅ Safe space to ask "stupid" questions

✅ Peers who actually get it

No Daves allowed.

From £24/month (individual) | £69/month (club)

Find out more → http://fmha.academy

02/04/2026

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆. A calculator built specifically for grassroots sports clubs.

Powered by withinu/FMHA.

Built on HM Treasury and Sport England methodology.

Produces a full report, a press release, social posts and a funding guide. Takes 10 minutes.

Launching soon.

01/04/2026

Your changing room isn't a changing room to an autistic player. It's a sensory nightmare they're managing - alone - while getting ready to perform.

You've got fifteen players in a small space. The spray deodorant's getting passed around. Strip lighting's hammering overhead. Someone's phone is playing music at full volume. Bodies are crashing into each other in the chaos. That smell - that specific combination of synthetic fabric, metal lockers, and sweat - it's there whether anyone else notices it or not.

And then the player's expected to switch into game mode.

The thing is: this isn't weakness. This isn't them being difficult. This is their nervous system hitting capacity before they've even stepped onto the pitch. By the time they get out there, they're already depleted. They might look calm. They're not calm. They're in shutdown.

Most clubs don't even clock this because nobody's complaining. The autistic player will endure it - that's part of masking. But endurance isn't performance.

Simple fixes exist. Quieter changing space for 10 minutes before kick-off. Lower the lighting. Headphones allowed. Sensory-friendly kit bags. But nobody's asking the question: "How's your nervous system after we've prepped you?"

What does your changing room look like through a neurodivergent lens? Honestly, what would you change if you had to?

01/04/2026

In a club with 150 youth players, roughly 21 are likely to be neurodivergent.

Around 37 will experience a mental health difficulty this season.

Most coaches don't know who they are. Most clubs have no plan. And when those kids disengage - because the environment doesn't understand them - the club doesn't just lose a player. It loses the social value that player was generating.

That's a figure you can calculate.

𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁.

31/03/2026

Last call for this evening...

Managing Anger and Emotional Regulation in Grassroots Football

Tuesday 31st March 2026
6pm - 9pm
Online via Zoom
£15.00 per person

Built around Professor Steve Peters’ Chimp Paradox model - the same framework used by British Cycling, Liverpool FC, and England Cricket - this session gives you the understanding and tools to manage touchline anger before it becomes a disciplinary matter, and to handle it properly when it does.

https://vault.thefmha.com/managing-anger-and-emotional-regulation-in-grassroots-football/

31/03/2026

£4,300. That's the annual wellbeing value of one active child aged 11–16, playing football twice a week.

Not made up - it comes from Sport England's 2023/24 Social Value Model, built with Sheffield Hallam and Manchester Met, using HM Treasury's own methodology.

Your U14s aren't just playing football. They're generating measurable, defensible social value.

Your club just hasn't had a way to put a number on it.

30/03/2026

Managing Anger and Emotional Regulation in Grassroots Football:

LAST CALL

It's a 3-hour Zoom session that does something nobody else in the grassroots game is currently doing: it teaches people why they lose their temper, and gives them the tools to do something about it.

Not a rulebook refresher. Not a safeguarding tick-box. The actual science of what happens in your brain when someone kicks off on the touchline, and what you can say and do to bring the temperature down before it becomes a charge.

The training is built around Professor Steve Peters' Chimp Paradox model - the same framework used by British Cycling, Liverpool FC and England Cricket.

The Details:

Tuesday 31st March 2026
6pm - 9pm
£39 per person, but County FAs have discount codes to offer this for £15 per person - this reduced rate won't last.

https://vault.thefmha.com/managing-anger-and-emotional-regulation-in-grassroots-football/

30/03/2026

A grassroots club with 200 kids, 40 volunteers and three community programmes generates somewhere between £800k and £1.2m in social value every year.

Most clubs have never seen that number. Most couldn't tell you where it comes from if they tried. And because they can't, they lose funding applications, they lose council support, they lose the argument about why they matter.

The methodology to calculate it properly has existed since 2023. Sport England commissioned Sheffield Hallam and Manchester Metropolitan to build it. HM Treasury signed off the wellbeing unit. The number is real - clubs just haven't been given the tool.

27/03/2026

98% of grassroots referees report experiencing verbal abuse.

If we want a game to play at the weekend, we need to protect the people who make it happen.

Our new training, "Managing Anger and Emotional Regulation," gives you the practical tools to de-escalate touchline tension before it crosses the line.

https://vault.thefmha.com/managing-anger-and-emotional-regulation-in-grassroots-football/

The FMHA

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