Relaunched in October 2022, after a long break due to COVID-19, the Surrey FA Youth Forum returned for the 2022/23 season. 

The Youth Forum comprises of individuals aged 16-24, with a diverse membership including 38% of members from historically under-represented backgrounds and 38% female. This diverse variety helps provide insight into different communities and helps provide meaningful and inclusive opportunities for young people in local grassroots football. 

Every member has a specific role within the group from Marketing Champion to Women & Girl’s Champion. Each role has a clear link to Surrey FA at both a staff and board level, with chair Emma Clarke sitting on the main board. This ensures that the voice of young people throughout the county is heard and is informing the organisations' goals. 

In the 2022/23 season, the Youth Forum team has embedded across many of the County’s programmes and has worked hard to increase its visibility across local football.  The main activities the group have supported or delivered included; career fairs, delivering talks to St Mary’s University, County Cup Finals, activations with new Surrey FA partners Thorpe Park Resorts, hosting the Surrey FA International Women’s Day networking panel and launching a kit donation campaign in association with Kit4Causes. 

The Youth Forum will continue to build on last season’s success and has already started to outline some potential goals and objectives for the 2023/24 season. The team are keen to have a more significant presence across grassroots clubs in the county, aiming to increase the number of youth committees in clubs. The Youth Forum will also continue their ‘Surrey Roadshow’ by taking their meetings to different clubs and role modelling what it could look like for them with the help of young people.