Worcester City FC owner discusses England’s World Cup campaign, youth participation and the importance of grassroots football
As England’s World Cup campaign captured the imagination of football fans across the country, excitement extended far beyond stadiums and television screens. For Simon Lancaster, owner of Worcester City Football Club and founder of SJL Insurance, international tournaments represent far more than a celebration of elite football – they provide a crucial opportunity to inspire the next generation of players, supporters and volunteers.
Speaking to Sky News following England’s victory over Croatia, Simon discussed the impact major tournaments have on grassroots football and why clubs across the country must seize the moment to engage young people. While fans were celebrating England’s performance, Simon emphasised that every international success story begins at community level, with children taking their first steps into the game through local clubs, school programmes and youth teams.
Under Lancaster’s ownership, Worcester City FC has significantly expanded its youth set-up, growing to around 40 teams and providing opportunities for hundreds of young players. He believes grassroots football plays a vital role not only in developing future stars but also in teaching important life skills, encouraging physical activity and strengthening local communities.
During the interview, Simon was joined by Worcester City FC General Manager Hayley, along with several Under-18 players from the club, who shared their enthusiasm for England’s World Cup performance and highlighted the excitement generated by the tournament. Their reactions reflected the optimism and passion that major sporting events can create among young footballers.
Simon also explained how competitions such as the World Cup can drive increased participation in football, much like Wimbledon boosts interest in tennis each summer. For clubs like Worcester City FC, this heightened interest presents an opportunity to attract new players, supporters and volunteers while helping to secure the long-term future of grassroots football.
Read on to discover Simon’s thoughts on England’s World Cup campaign, youth participation in sport and the importance of investing in grassroots football for future generations.
Interviewer 1: The new health secretary. We’re going to go back to World Cup.
Interviewer 2: We certainly are.
Interviewer 1: Yes, World Cup fever, it’s, you know, spread across the country. This is after England beat Croatia in last night’s match.
Interviewer 2: Let’s talk now to Simon Lancaster, who is the owner of Worcester City Football Club, and he joins us now alongside some of the club’s junior players. Simon, great to have you with us. Thanks so much for joining us. Tell us where you were watching last night, how you’re feeling this morning.
Simon: Thanks for having us on, it’s brilliant. Actually, well, you’ll laugh, but I watched it in bed. The timings don’t work great for me, so I was in bed watching it, but I managed to stay up to the end, which was a late night for me, but I think the excitement of the game kept me awake. It was a great game, wasn’t it?
Interviewer 1: Yeah, it was a great game. Listen, England fans, they’re still buzzing, but I know that you say in particular that this World Cup story started years ago, and it started years ago in playgrounds across the country. Tell us why you think that.
Simon: Well, I mean, every player’s football journey starts at grassroots, doesn’t it? And our challenge as a football club is to get the kids involved, because they’re the future of the football club. Every football club at our level is fighting for survival, and we’ve got to ensure as custodians of the club that we’re still around in 100 years. So to do that, we have to engage the kids, and we’ve been trying to do that since I came in. We’ve grown our youth section to 40 teams, and we try and get the kids along to the games here at Six Ways and get the kids involved, take our football provision out into schools and into the community. And it’s so important for the future of our football club that we get the kids involved at the grassroots level. But like you say, it’s also important for them, because it’s fantastic for kids to be playing sport off their computers with their friends, learning life skills, social, physical and mental. And obviously, hopefully, a small percentage of them will go all the way and play for the Lionesses or the men’s teams at the top end. But I think more importantly for that at grassroots level, it’s really important for clubs of our level’s survival, and also for the kids themselves to be participating in grassroots sport, and in our case, football. And obviously, this World Cup and the excitement in this World Cup, and hopefully England have a good run at it, our opportunity is to tap into that and get the kids involved, come into games when we start back here in July, and also involved and participating in the schools programmes that we do in the youth section. And that’s the opportunity for us, really, is to get them involved. And then hopefully, some of them make it all the way to play for England in a few World Cups time.
Interviewer 1: Simon, can you just tell us who’s standing with you? Because we want to get a conversation going with some of the players. Have you got the general manager there too?
Simon: Yeah, of course, I’ve got Hayley, who’s the general manager. They can’t hear you, I’m the only one with an earpiece. But we’ve got Hayley, who’s our general manager, who also looks after our youth section. And then we’ve got two under-18s girls and two under-18 boys. We couldn’t get the younger ones, unfortunately, because they were at school. So we’ve got two under-18 girls and two under-18 boys and Hayley with us. So if you want to ask them anything, I can pass the questions on.
Interviewer 2: Well, just to be great to hear their enthusiasm for the World Cup and what they thought of the chances. But I know we don’t have a mic, so it might be a bit more complex.I guess more broadly, Simon, just the question of how much you think there is a growing interest from the kids, the younger ones, when a World Cup is on. Do you see a direct correlation of that?
Simon: Yes, definitely. I mean, we’re looking at football, It does have a lot of interest anyway. I mean, we’ve got 500 kids in our youth section. And to be fair, we’re turning them away. If we could get the facilities, we could have more. So I think there’s lots of demand in football. But unquestionably, when the World Cup’s on, the demand does peak. You see it with tennis as well, don’t you? When Wimbledon’s on, everybody’s out playing tennis. So there’s definitely a peak. And our opportunity, like I said earlier, is to tap into that and try and get them to support the team here and play the game and then keep them involved for the future, because they’re the future fans and players and volunteers of the club, aren’t they? So we’ve got to get them involved at an early age and keep them involved if we can.
Interviewer 1: And I just wonder, to reflect from some of the young players that are standing next to you now, what they thought of the match last night?
Simon: Yeah, of course. Boys, girls, any thoughts on the match last night?
Under 18 Male Player 1: Yeah, I thought it was really good. I thought it was a lot better now, obviously more attacking, more attacking football than Southgate. I thought it was great.
Under 18 Male Player 2: I felt like the first half, we didn’t start our best, but in the second half, we really showed what we could do as a club. And it’s looking promising going forward.
Simon: Girls, anything?
Under 18 Female Player 1: No, it was a good game, especially the second half when we had the subs. It was more energy-bringing on the pitch, which is much better than the first half.
Under 18 Female Player 2: Yeah, totally agree.
Simon: There we go. Good. I don’t know how much of that you could hear, but they were happy with the performance, particularly the attacking intent in the second half.
Interviewer 2: I don’t think we can sum it up any better than that, Simon. It was great to have you all with us. Thanks so much for joining us and good luck with keeping that youth engagement in particular up.
Simon: No worries. Thanks for having us on.
