UEFA President visits English FA centre

UEFA President Michel Platini has visited the English Football Association's (FA) national football centre at St George's Park.

Mr Platini was accompanied by FA chairman Greg Dyke and UEFA Executive Committee member David Gill. He was given a guided tour of the centre, which is situated near Burton-on-Trent in the Midlands, and watched training sessions featuring the England women's Under-23 and men's U16 squads.

The UEFA President met the women's U23 coach Marieanne Spacey and John Peacock, who coached England to the UEFA European U17 Championship title earlier this year. Mr Platini also met the FA director of elite development Dan Ashworth and viewed skills sessions featuring young players.

St George's Park was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – the former is FA president – in October 2012. It is the base for all of the FA's coaching and development work, as well as a training centre for 24 England representative teams.

Its facilities include a full-sized indoor third generation football pitch, a multipurpose indoor sports hall, 11 full-size outdoor pitches, an elite training pitch, a hotel where sports and business conferences can be staged, and medical, rehabilitation and sports science facilities. Investment funding through the UEFA HatTrick assistance programme to Europe's national associations will support pitch maintenance at the centre in the future.

"St George's Park is very beautiful," Mr Platini told FA TV. "It's very modern. That means that you bring the quality, that you create the quality, that you create the space to develop football in England. That's very important. Now what you do with that is very important too. You need coaches, you need players, you need very good people who learn how to play football. But it's important for a great football country like England that it can have its own technical centre, where it can bring the future talent of the national team of England."

The UEFA President encouraged the FA to work continuously to tend the vital grassroots of the game. "I think it's the FA's job to develop the grassroots and to develop football," he reflected. "Passion is football. That means that you have to give [youngsters] the opportunity to develop their passion."

During his trip to St George's Park, Mr Platini was shown a statue honouring the world's first black professional footballer, Arthur Wharton, who played for several English clubs. The statue recognises Wharton's role as a pioneer.

The UEFA President emphasised UEFA's campaign to eliminate racism, intolerance and discrimination from the game. "We work not only on every form of racism, but also [prejudice] against disabled people, and homophobia," he said. "We have zero tolerance for everything. [We] are trying to help humanity, and civilisation, have a better life. We have to keep out of football all of these stupid people who are not fighting for good cooperation."