The Family Excellence Award was launched during the 2007/08 season to reward clubs delivering an outstanding family experience. It was introduced as part of the League's long term strategy to attract young fans, Fans of the Future. In addition to recognising those clubs that are already providing an outstanding family experience, the award also aims to encourage those that have not been successful this time around. Best practice guidance, feedback and training will be available to the remaining clubs to encourage their efforts and to achieve the award during the 2008/09 season.

At the launch of the Awards, Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney said:

"Through our 'Fans of the Future' initiative we are encouraging the next generation of young fans to watch their local League club. With some success too, so far more than 500,000 youngsters have attended matches for free during the last two seasons.

"The new 'Football League Family Excellence Award' represents a further step forward for The League in terms of recognising and sharing best practice in this area. Those clubs receiving the Award will have provided a genuine commitment to attracting and retaining family groups to their matches."

CRITERIA

There were three main areas that were taken into account. Firstly, a clubs pricing structure for family and its embracing of the Fans of the Future concept was taken into account.

Following this, the League looked at each clubs Child Safeguarding practices and procedures as it was important that we provide the safest of environments for our young fans of the future.

The League arranged two mystery family visits to each club. One visit as a home fan and another as an away fan. The purpose of the visit was to measure the entire matchday experience.The experience was measured from the very first click on the club website to find ticket information to the catering, club shop and stewarding.

How each club performed against criteria within the three areas then helped judges to decide on which clubs truly delivered the excellent experience they were looking for.

JUDGING

On the judging panel were representatives of The Football Supporters Federation, Supporters Direct, Customer Strategy Magazine and National Customer Service Expert, Mark Bradley. The panel was chosen to ensure that supporter's organisations saw the process as being fair and open, while customer services experts were included to provide a cross industry angle to what The League is trying to achieve.

With such a massive amount of data, the League then presented the Judging Panel with all the relevant information and following much deliberation the following clubs were awarded the inaugural Family Excellence Award.


FAMILY EXCELLENCE AWARDS RECIPIENTS

Championship Clubs awarded the Family Chartermark in 2007/8:

1.Cardiff City
2.Charlton Athletic
3.Colchester United
4.Hull City
5.Ipswich Town
6.Leicester City
7.Norwich City
8.Plymouth Argyle
9.Preston North End
10.Queens Park Rangers
11.Southampton

League 1 Clubs awarded the Family Chartermark in 2007/8

1.AFC Bournemouth
2.Carlisle United
3.Doncaster Rovers
4.Gillingham
5.Huddersfield Town
6.Luton Town
7.Northampton Town
8.Southend United
9.Swansea City
10.Tranmere Rovers
11.Yeovil Town

League 2 Clubs awarded the Family Chartermark in 2007/8:

1.Accrington Stanley
2.Barnet
3.Brentford
4.Lincoln City
5.Milton Keynes Dons
6.Peterborough United
7.Rochdale
8.Shrewsbury Town
9.Wrexham
10.Wycombe Wanderers

WHAT NEXT?

The above clubs having achieved the Family Excellence Award were than eligible to be considered for the Family Club of the Year category at The Football League Awards in March.

To ensure fairness, a different panel was brought together to look at further evidence as to which clubs were the best Family Clubs in each Division.

AND THE WINNER IS......

The winners of the divisional awards for Family Club of the Year for season 2007/8 were:

Championship

Norwich City

League 1

Huddersfield Town

League 2

Wycombe Wanderers

Following this these three winners were then nominated for the National Customer Services Awards.  These are National Awards taking in all industries.

NATIONAL WINNER

Wycombe Wanderers were shortlisted for a National Customer Services Award in the Leisure and Tourism category and The Football League is proud to announce that in a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in front of over 1,700 customer professionals the club was named 'Customer Service Team of the Year - Leisure and Tourism'.  For more details on Wycombe's achievement please click here.  For more information on the National Customer Service Awards log onto www.customerserviceawards.com

RAISING THE BAR

The Football League will continue to reward clubs for providing great experiences for families. The Family Excellence Awards have been enhanced in 2008/9 with the introduction of The League's Enjoy the Match campaign. The judging and operation of the Awards themselves will also be improved ensuring that not only do clubs who deserve the Excellence Award receive it, but also all clubs will receive more detailed feedback than before to ensure that all clubs can understand where they need to improve.

The League commitment to this scheme will see an improvement of standards across all Clubs, and importantly the positive effect this will have on supporters.

For more details on the 'mystery shopper' process click here.