The Club's recent annual presentation evening brought an end to a successful 2022/23 season. The event was held at High Lodge, Darsham and was very well attended by players, coaches, committee members and supporters. Everyone had an enjoyable evening with the highlight being the well deserved Life Membership Special Recognition award presented to a very special lady, Val Bunning. The standing ovation, together with Val's reaction will live long in the memory.
A couple of weeks previously we held our end of season fun day at Carlton Park which saw all the youth teams playing in the morning, followed by the adult teams in the afternoon. In between we held the Youths awards presentation and the whole event was a fantastic, with the bar, BBQ and draw raising much needed funds for the Club. Thanks to all who participated, helped organise and run the event.
On the playing front it has been a successful season. My last report at the turn of the year mentioned that the First team were in a great position in the league to push on, with a run of home games early in the new year. We did continue our fantastic form going unbeaten in the league in 2023 securing second place and promotion to Division One. This is a wonderful achievement for the management team of Matt, Ballsy and Niki who took over at the start of the season, and all the players who have shown great commitment and bought into what we are trying to achieve at the Club.
The Reserves showed good progression finishing mid table in the newly formed Division Six. Most weeks we were able to field a full squad of 16 players which itself shows the strength of the Club. The aim for next season is to continue this progression and see the Reserves pushing for promotion.
Turning to the Youths, unfortunately the u18s boys team did not see the season through, but a few of the players have stepped up into the Reserves. However we added a new u11s boys team during the season, and they will be our u12s next season. We have also formed an u7s who began training towards the end of the season and, in addition, I am delighted to be able to announce that we will have two new boys youth teams next season, an u8s and u11s.
The Girls Youth section also continues to thrive, with all teams having successful seasons. The u12s finished in the top half of a very strong league. The u14s won their league by being undefeated all season. The u15s finished runners up in the league and County Cup to the same team, but showed they are getting closer to them. We are very proud that we can offer football to girls in the local area and hope to build on this further in the future.
As a Club we have a rich tradition of youth football and it is so pleasing to see this returning in such a positive fashion.
Off the pitch we held our AGM in May and most committee members have stayed, and we have also added new members. We have a strong and dedicated committee who are all working together to take the Club forward, and since my last report we have made further improvements, including roping off the main pitch.
There is a real buzz around the Club which is noticeable on match days where we were getting three figure spectator numbers towards the end of the season. The atmosphere in the bar lounge after matches is fantastic, and we have Jan to thank for keeping us refreshed from the bar and Caroline for providing hot and cold food at First team home matches. It has also been wonderful to see former players returning to Carlton Park to watch matches and join us for a drink in the Clubhouse.
We are very fortunate that each team has a kit sponsor (see the Sponsors page of this website), and many of the adult players had individual sponsors in the season (as noted on the Teams section of this website). I would like to personally thank all our sponsors, without whom we would not be able to run the Club.
So, now the 2022/23 season is concluded we look ahead to 2023/24. The work behind the scenes is ongoing as we plan to continue the progression throughout the Club. If any readers would like to get involved or sponsor the Club please do get in touch via the website.
Training starts again on Wednesday 28th June and pre season friendlies will begin towards the end of July. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter postings for details and we look forward to seeing you at the Club during the season.
Up the Sax ⚽️🎷
Carl Page
Chairman
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