I READ with interest that Oxford City Council wishes to fork out £175,000 to boost interest in football around the city (Oxford Mail, April 2).

But why should it bother spending shed loads of money when there is a local association which is responsible for doing that already in existence? And one which would perhaps do well to dig much deeper into its own very long pockets – the Oxfordshire Football Association.

The association is the Football Association’s representative covering Oxfordshire’s pre-1973 boundaries (Botley and Kennington are therefore in Berkshire, while Kings Sutton is in Northamptonshire).

Each club, league, competition and referee within this area is required by FA rules to affilliate as members to their county FA for a set fee each season.

This county association also controls and regulates all misconduct on behalf of The FA. It therefore collects all the money for FA offences committed by players or clubs by way of administration fees or by fines, in addition to collecting its statutory fees.

Last year The OFA was guarding approximately £500,000 of its members’ money, according to a statement in the booklet made available to members for their AGM.

Rather than have non-football lovers miss out, by the council sponsoring the development of football across the city, surely it would be more appropriate for the OFA to contribute financially to the development and improvement of facilities in Oxford for all footballers.

It is all very well gathering the harvest, year in year out, but perhaps a footballing tithe is now called for?

It is only fair to all other citizens to see the game of football put something back into the community as a whole.

On the subject of improving facilities, I have been urging the OFA to go and inspect all footballing facilities across the county for several years.

This repeatedly appeared to fall on deaf ears – though last season it did ask its referees to report matters.

No one on the OFA council itself seems at all interested in actually going out and visiting all football facilities in Oxfordshire and looking at exactly how things can be improved.

There are now several paid employees, including a company secretary on the OFA, so claiming that the council is staffed by volunteers is no longer a valid excuse.

Member clubs, players and referees deserve better value for their money, and a clean, safe footballing environment in which to play.

The OFA really does have a responsibility to ensure that this is the case, at no expense to the citizens of Oxford, or elsewhere in the county.

The city council can, if it wishes, go a long way to increasing the use of pitches by setting a far fairer tariff for those hiring their facilities.

Some clubs have 10 or more teams playing each weekend, so a scale of discount for multiple pitch users seems a fairer way of providing football for more people.

Reintroducing groundsmen seems a good idea for most clubs too.

Many of the clubs I speak to are willing to pay for pitches for games, but are in some cases charged to put on training and coaching sessions during the week, which puts greater pressure on their funds and resources.

In the case of children and teenagers, these clubs are without doubt doing the community a service by providing sport, and just something to do, in areas that would otherwise, perhaps, suffer from antisocial behaviour.

These people are by and large true volunteers and really do need greater financial support and encouragement.

I have now been a football referee for 26 years. I have visited 99 per cent of clubs and facilities in Oxfordshire during that time, and have a pretty good idea of what’s required, so if the city council would like to offer me £26,000 a year for the next three years... get in touch!

DAVID WILLIAMS, David Walter Close, Oxford