Hi, I hope everyone is well and looking forward to the summer holidays. These last few months have certainly been strange and as things slowly start to feel normal again it’s been a real delight to see some of our teams back out enjoying some football with their friends albeit in unfamiliar circumstances. We hope that in the coming weeks the pathway to familiar surroundings will become clearer and the club will move quickly to ensure this is done correctly and safely.

Despite some months of down time on the pitch, the clubs committee have been extremely busy off of it. Firstly back in late March we were really proud to present a webinar to coaches and clubs all over the country about what success looks like at a grass roots club. This is now available on The FA website.

We were also delighted to announce our long term partnership with Applemore College which secures the future of our club and with that the immediate development to the already brilliant facility. Renovation work has continued for the last 2 months by an incredible group of volunteers to renovate the containers which used to be site offices on a building site. Once completed these units will consist of toilets, changing rooms and a small club house/cafe area which will provide much needed refreshments on training and match days. To complement these developments we will also be adding 2 grass pitches which will create our very own football hub. Those of you that have children in older age groups will understand more just how far our club has come from the days of training and matches taking place in numerous locations. It’s a really exciting period for all of our members.

Now, there was only one way to celebrate our new facilities and that was to run out on the 4G in a brand new kit once we are given the green light. We tried to keep it a secret while our team work tirelessly to get the deal over the line and deliver a real show stopper of a kit. The reveal day was a lot of fun and really well received so Thank you for taking part. To complement the new kit deal we now have a fantastic club shop where you can purchase additional club branded items. I’m sure this will be well used at Christmas time!

As I write this I’m fully aware that despite the season finishing some months ago we haven’t yet had our annual celebration. With things the way they are unfortunately a night out at St Mary’s just isn’t possible but again our clubs committee has pulled out all of the stops to ensure we can create the best possible memories despite the restrictions. We are still working on a few loose ends but we hope to have a confirmed date for this by the end of this week. Thanks for your patience.

Lastly, in the midst of everything going on the club held its AGM. This year was different being an online affair but I was delighted to see no changes to this incredible team of volunteers. In all of my years involved in grassroots football I have never known such a motivated, hard working and genuine group of people. An outstanding Team.

I’m very much looking forward to getting back down to Applemore and catching up with as many of you as possible and once the cafe is open I have Coffee, white with 1.

Best wishes.

Wayne Harris.
(Club Chairman)

#WeAllCanPlay

We’re really excited to get some of our teams back to socially distanced training this week. It’s been a lot of hard work from the committee getting arrangements made with the council, ordering in sanitiser and first aid equipment, understanding the FA guidance, and formulating our own plans.

Our amazing volunteer coaches have been briefed via Zoom, and it will be great to see some of the teams back out training. Please bear in mind training is completely optional, if you or the coach aren’t comfortable returning to football just yet, there is absolutely no requirement to do so.

Due to the facility at Applemore remaining closed, training will take place at Shore Road playing fields and we have a rota of pitch spaces set out there, with large transitional periods to ensure social distancing and minimise the burden of traffic and parking. As Shore Road is a public space, we must remain mindful of other users. Parking is extremely limited, so please if you live near enough and if at all possible, see if you can get there without driving.

We are also asking a parent or guardian of each child to remain on site, so if there is any requirement for treatment, they can attend and the coach can maintain the required 2m distance.

Here are the details of how it will work…

Here are the pitch areas…

COVID19 training documents and resources…

We have produced some handy guides for parents, players and coaches, as well as first aid and training guidance. Please download and keep for reference.

• Download the Players Guide >

• Download the Parents Guide >

• Download the Coaches Guide >

• Download the First Aid Guidance >

• Download the HDYFC Football Restart Training Guide >

• Download our Covid19 Risk Assessment Document >

Please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns – [email protected]

Prior to the coronavirus lockdown we were very proud to be asked to take part in a webinar for the FA on the topic of success in a grassroots football club. It was an honour to be asked to participate in any capacity, but on a topic like that was really flattering.

It was a really interesting process to step back and ask ourselves some difficult questions, and clearly define both how far we’ve come as a club and where we want to go. The webinar went really well, we’ve made some great contacts and received some fantastic feedback from both the FA club services team and other participants involved in grassroots football.

There’s a full case study published on the FA website, publicly available to download and read:

http://www.thefa.com/get-involved/player/clubs-and-leagues

Or they can be viewed as images below:

Onwards an upwards!