Newsletter - March 2022

As some of you are aware we were formed after the theft of monies from Phoenix FC, whilst we have no formal ties to that club some of our parents and players were victims of the fraud.

We saw the verdict handed out to the people entrusted with running Phoenix and whilst we take no joy at seeing a mother of three children having to spend time behind bars we welcome the verdict as it allows us to look forward and put this behind us.

The way our club is set up is to ensure complete confidence and trust, the key positions at the club are held by people that aren’t related and no spouses can be on the committee. We believe this is the most transparent way of doing things and we publish our accounts every three months at the committee meetings. A copy of the club accounts will be available at the end of the season.

Also this club is entirely ran by volunteers, nobody gets paid is purely for the love of grassroots football! The time the people spend doing all the admin or coaching is taking free time away from their own families so if you are interested in helping out please please please get in touch, even an hour here or there or helping set up or take down the pitches helps.

Whilst we don’t want to dwell on the past the loss of a potential clubhouse was a massive blow and it’s a key aim of the club to get a club house for us and the local community to use. Another aim is to improve drainage and pitch quality at Ferryside Lane as we see our long term future at the site. The site is council owned and operated but we see massive potential in the site and look forward to speaking to Sefton Council again about how we can jointly provide a grassroots hub in Southport that is sorely lacking.

Anyways on to football news!

Last weekend saw four teams take part in semi finals and there was mixed success, two teams won and reached the final and the other two were unsuccessful.

First up was Stephens under 9 reds who faced a strong Hillside Athletic team, after the first meeting between the two teams ended with Hillside running out clear winners we went into the game clear underdogs. However SAJFC surprised Hillside with a very determined display and after a couple of world class saves by Hillsides goalkeeper and a penalty save by SAJFC’s keeper Fabian, Hillside finally came out on top with a 1-0 win. We wish them well in the final against Churchtown Jags.

Next was Alans under 10 reds against S&AA reds. Alans team put in a dogged display after losing some key players this season but in the end S&AA’s quality and substitutions helped seal a very worthy win.

Paul’s under 10 blacks reached their second successive final against a very well drilled Birkdale United. The team took a very early lead in front of the cameras (more on that later) and never looked back, some of the link up play was the best we have seen from them and the goals ranged from well worked tap ins to screamers from outside of the box. They will face S&AA reds who beat Alans team in what should be a very entertaining and close game if previous meetings are to go by! The final is to be played at the fantastic facilities at Burscough Dynamo’s home ground Abbey Lane on Sunday 24th April.

Craigs under 16’s reached their final by way victory over Southport Trinity but who better to tell you about than Craig himself!

⚽️Cup 1-0 SP Trinity⚽️

Very proud of all the squad today. A well deserved 1-0 win that on chances should have been at least 3-0 and puts us into our first Final👊 Some excellent and lovely football all round from the team and everyone played their part and had great games.👏👏👏

Probably one of the best disciplined and controlled wins we have ever had and more gratifying as they did it on a big Semi-final game against their adversaries. Lewis P captained the side today and lead by example taking the penalty for an early second half lead.  This was after some really good first half play by all and creating chances for Theo, James C (unlucky with them) and good shots from Louis and Olly B.

Second half continued with strong  midfield play from Adam, Olly B, Cam T and solid defence from Cohen, Ben, Lewis, Kieran, Nayr, all whilst attackers Theo, James C, Louis, Nath, James K and Sam at the end looked dangerous throughout. Pass and move play was excellent thoughout the team and they all defended so well, I really can’t think of any key chances from the opposition, bar a first half scrappy corner header.

Cohen completely out marked one of the best forwards in the league and deserved Parents MOM.👏

Josh kicking in net was awesome, keeping us on the offensive and very safe hands earned him Managers MOM with the whole squad in truth due to their support. We appreciate their team support throughout. Still let’s not forget the big picture, this team has been a developing team for many years and to play so well in their first ever semi-final with all their parents watching, takes a hell of a lot of character and hence why I’m so pleased and proud of them all today. Special shout out to James C recovery who took a bad knock to the face and spent the afternoon in A&E and thankfully hearing he’s going to be fine 🤞.  The date and the venue of the final is still TBC but once we know it would be great to see you all down there supporting the team.

We were on TV! We are going to be in the newspapers!

As mentioned earlier BBC North West Tonight visited us to do a good news piece on how well we have done since forming. Alan was meant to be interviewed but he was too busy managing the team looking for a first win of the season so Paul got thrust in front of the cameras despite it being completely out of his comfort zone! After seeing himself on TV he quickly booked in for a visit to the barbers for a long overdue haircut! The cameraman was on the pitch filming sections of the game and got some great footage of the game. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-60739346

Alan met the Liverpool Echo as they want to take up our story and we will send the link out to that once the story is published.

We need you!

As mentioned earlier we are always looking for volunteer coaches so if you know anyone please tell them to get in touch. We are also looking at adding new players to our under 10 teams in preparation for next years switch to 9 a side football.

Contacts for the club southportathleticjfc@gmail.com

www.southportathletic.co.uk or via our facebook page @southportathleticjfc