The Club House is the monthly e-newsletter from Club Website, the home of grassroots football. Each and every month we keep you informed of the major developments occurring in the real game of grassroots football, providing you with news, stories and interviews from around the UK football community.

An informative read for players, managers and committee members alike, this month's edition of the Club House is a Christmas bumper edition, so happy reading!

The Football Foundation - football's biggest supporter

Since its launch in 2000, the Football Foundation has provided £340m in grants to facilities and community projects across England. Foundation Chief Executive Paul Thorogood spoke to Club Website recently about the work of grassroots football's biggest supporter and how they may be able to help your club.

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Back to my roots - Graham Poll

Graham Poll was Britain's top referee for over a decade, refereeing in over 1,500 games including appearances at two World Cups.

Club Website caught up with the former referee and took him back to his roots to find out his early days as a footballer, how he became a referee and his journey through the game to become his country's top official.

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Karen Carney - coming of age

Karen Carney has been on the football scene for years but is still only 21 years old!  Since becoming one of the youngest women to represent England in 2005, she has since moved to Arsenal Ladies, playing a huge part in their quadruple-winning 2006/07 season, and has become an established England international. Here, the fans’ favourite tells Fair Game’s Cath Etoe how life is shaping up.

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How does your team measure up against the pros?

Ever wondered how you and your teammates compare to the rest of the nation's footballers? Get a visit from a Lucozade Sport Scientist and they'll measure your reaction skills as well as your speed, strength and agility. You can see how your scores fare and there are VIP Barclays Premier League tickets on offer for the country's top performers!

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Support the Homeless World Cup

The Homeless World Cup is taking place in Melbourne this week, bringing together 56 teams from across the globe for a unique street football tournament.

Using football as a catalyst to encourage people who are homeless to turn their lives around, the tournament has the power to change the attitudes of governments, media, public and key influencers to create better solutions to homelessness around the world.

You can help support the Homeless World Cup in a number of different ways, from straightforward donations to raising money via sponsorship. To find out more, visit www.homelessworldcup.org or check out Club Website for updates from the tournament.

Put your grassroots refereeing decisions to Graham Poll

Club Website has teamed up with top ex-referee Graham Poll to answer your queries over refereeing decisions in your grassroots matches.

If your own referee left you scratching your head or you witnessed a decision that made you angry or simply baffled, the UK's top referee of the last decade could clear the situation up for you, courtesy of Club Website.

Email you questions to grahampoll@clubwebsite.co.uk and your name will be put into a prize draw for a Club Website football. What's more, the best question received will win a personal signed copy of Graham's bestselling book, Graham Poll: Seeing Red.

Graham's answers to a selection of the best questions will appear in next month's edition of The Club House as this new feature continues in 2009!

Email Graham

Christmas competition - win VIP Premier League tickets!

With the festive season now fully underway, Club Website has a Christmas cracker of a competition in store for you this month!

We are giving away a pair of VIP tickets for a Boxing Day Barclays Premier League game of your choice. The VIP package means you'll receive full hospitality including a meal, drinks and the best seats in the house for a game of your choice from the full Boxing Day programme.

Visit our competitions page or click the link below for full details of how you can get your name in the hat for this fantastic prize!

Enter here

Competition winners

In November, Neil Tipping of Oakengates Rangers FC in Telford was the lucky winner of a Liverpool shirt signed by Robbie Keane (image © Liverpool FC).

We also gave away 10 copies of the latest football funnies DVD to hit the market - Hatton's Hotshots. Thanks to all our entrants and congratulations to our winners!

Hatton's Hotshots winners: David Ward, Fraser Buchan, Garry Rodgers, Ian Cass, Ian Smith, Marc Reid, Paul Keiler, Robert Holland, Ryan Stiff, Wendy Latham

Club Website monthly round up

The weather's getting colder but things have been hotting up at Club Website in the last month. As always, we've covered all the latest grassroots football news, including the following (click the links to read more):

- New £1m 'Respect Barrier' launched
- Women's football coaching drive kicks off
- Goalpost safety advice and Challenge Cup updates from the SYFA
- Sin bins introduced in small-sided football
- UEFA study visit first for women's football

You continue to respond in your thousands to our Club Website polls. Click the links below to read the results of polls on the following questions:

- Do you think the current off-side law is too complicated?
- Should all kids be given the same amount of time on the pitch during a game?
- What is the best way to settle a cup tie that is level after normal time?

Our competitions keep coming thick and fast - above - and you continue to have "Your Shout" on what's happening at grassroots level. There's something for everyone at Club Website, so keep checking out the home of grassroots football!

And finally... Happy Christmas from the Club Website Team!

Everyone here at Club Website would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year!

2009 promises to be another exciting year for Club Website. Our new video platform will give you the chance to post your grassroots football clips on your website, plus all Club Website users will have access to our brand new library of professional coaching drills... and all still for free!

The Club House will return in January with more grassroots news, interviews and top competitions, so keep tuning in each and every month as the home of grassroots football moves into 2009!