I would like to correct this inaccuracy. Since the team announcement I have worked positively for the future of Team England, pulling in two new EurOpen players (one of whom had never heard of the Euros) and am actively sorting accommodation for ours and another EO team.Joemanji wrote:Unfortunately it would be remiss of me to ignore the elephant in the room. Geoff (Podfrey) has started this discussion mainly it seems because he is sore about not being picked for Team England in Wales...Unilaterally closing the Team England forums should not be any one person's decision to make.
The truth of the matter is that I commenced the move to wider community engagement at Monkeybowl earlier this year where I sounded out a number of coaches and began the groundwork, and timing wise felt that immediately following team announcement would be best as it didn't disrupt the process whilst capitalising on the exposure it gave.
The reason for the temporary closure of the TE forums was a result of observing the same people going over the same ground without progressing the matter, and therefore it was clear that we needed new voices. I am absolutely delighted to see that bringing the discussion here has done that in a way that no previous (or current) other media has done and I would like to extend my personal thanks to everyone who has joined in so far (and hope this encourages others who are reading to have their say).
So where do we go now?
Whilst we clearly haven't heard from all English coaches (come on you lurkers...!!) this initial thread has generated a lot of good ideas to explore. But where to discuss (and agree on) them?
Based on the discussion in this thread, it is strongly (unanimously?) in favour of moving away from the bespoke Team England forums as they have become one of the barriers to people's involvement. Also there is a strong call to unify on a single preferred site for discussion. As this site (TFF) seems to be accepted as having the highest proportion of tournament going English coaches, it would seem that it is therefore best positioned to become the new home of Team England discussions. Sites like FaceBook, Reddit, the NAF and TackleZone all contribute and play a part in spreading awareness, but I believe that the English community has a majority consensus on where it feels the "home" is.
I'd like to think that I have the broad measure of feelings here and that the above paragraph sums up the feelings of posters so far. And, if that's the case, I am happy to start the process to establish a Team England sub-forum here on TFF.
However it's not about me. What do you think? Do you want to vote on this? Do you want to post to say "TFF Yes" or "TFF No"? How do you want to take this first step? (please respond with what you want, not what could be done)
Thanks, and keep your thoughts coming!!
Geoff
(Latin: "Elephantus Podfreus")