Newsletter February 2023

Thank you for filling in the questionnaire this has been really helpful in identifying what we are good at and what areas we need to address.

We had lots of positive comments which was lovely to hear and a few areas which need addressing so I will hopefully clarify below.

Kits

All teams are provided with the same Nike kits and jackets, any other club coats/training kits/long sleeve tops are purchased by either the parents or through sponsorship and not from club funds. We are happy to help facilitate any of these orders either through the club web shop or point you in the right direction to other local suppliers and printers. If your team doesn’t currently have a black club jacket these will be purchased ahead of the new season.

Equipment

All coaches are provided with balls, bibs and cones and requests for other equipment are listened too, there is also shared equipment at Ferryside Lane for when we are on the grass, some coaches have their own extra pieces of equipment too that they have acquired over the years. If you have any questions or concerns around this, please contact Paul Mullan on mullan342@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to discuss with you.

Welfare officers

Ben Minto is the welfare officer and Paul Mullan is also welfare officer trained but we have asked Chloe Williams who is a parent in the under 8’s to take over this role once the training course has been completed. Chloe has wealth of knowledge from her job in HR which will complement the training the FA provide and of course Ben and Paul will always be on hand to help and support Chloe in the role.

Team Fee Pay

A couple of people commented they would prefer to pay by DD or the transaction fee was too much, whilst we understand the comments, Team fee pay saves so much time for our volunteer treasurer so we feel it’s a small price to pay as it automatically reconciles payments to the teams/players and sends us a report on any missing payments during the middle of the month. We have also checked our subs price against other clubs and we are cheaper than most, its effectively £5 a week and you get a training session and a match (subject to weather). We haven’t changed our cost in three years even though everything has gone up as we are trying to offer value for money and not price anyone out during the on going cost of living crisis.

Facilities

We have been in discussion for a while now with the local council, Liverpool county FA and the local ward councillors about improvements to Ferryside Lane. This is starting bear fruit and you should see some small changes soon from security poles to stop travellers coming on to the field, SAJFC

signage, improvements to the grass cutting service amongst others. We are also purchasing the lease on the building so we have a clubhouse so we can offer toilet facilities and a small snack bar until such time we can raise funds to kit the building out so it can be a real community asset.

Between ourselves, Liverpool FA and Sefton council we are actively seeking improvements to the playing surfaces which hopefully includes drainage but please be aware this wont be an overnight solution. It’s taken us nearly three years of fighting, pestering and pressure to get to the point of all parties sitting down and actively discussing issues.

We have also been accepted on to the FA’s Club programme part of England Football, which exists to support the future needs of the game across the league and club landscape. The aim of this is to stand side by side with leagues and clubs to build a robust and sustainable league and club network with sound infrastructure, that delivers inclusive football, are pillars of your community and together helping make sure football remains fit-for-purpose and built to last.

Plainly speaking we have a club consultant who helps set up the right structure to support the club long term and helps us apply for grants that get us better facilities which can range from clubhouse and playing pitch improvements right up to 3G pitches.

Hopefully the above reassures you we are doing our best behind the scenes to make sure this great club continues to be the best club around!

Volunteers

A number of people who replied to the questionnaire expressed interest in helping out around the club in various capacities, as it was anonymous we don’t who you are so can you please get in touch with us via southportathleticjfc@gmail.com or make yourself known to your coach and we can find the best fit for you and the club. The majority of people interacting with our facebook page are women and we are keen to engage that support by having more mum’s, guardians, grandparents, and aunties involved in the decision making and coaching at SAJFC. From next season we will issue a welcome to the club guide about what is provided, what is expected of coaches, players and spectators and a guide on how to complete the admin side of things.

Parents Committee

We are setting up a parents committee to bring fresh ideas and a platform for guardians voices to be heard. Scott Williams will head this up and he will be sounding you all out soon.

Girls football

Whilst we have a few girls playing for our teams we have actively held off until we can provide toilet facilities. With that looking like its going to be sorted soon we are going to be in a position to offer girls only football, if you know someone who would be interested in joining or would like to run a girls only team please get in touch. We would love to see the famous black and red strip worn by a team full of girls!

Club involvement in teams

Everyone is a volunteer here and that means there is a limited amount of time to be shared between the club and our own family life, so we leave the vast majority of team admin to the coaches, this ranges from organising the training and matches (the club sorts the facilities out) to submitting results and team sheets on the FA full time system and anything else in-between. That said we are

always here for any concerns or suggestions for improvement. Social media shout outs was mentioned, all coaches submit their results in the managers WhatsApp group so if they provide a picture we can easily sort or you can send a picture, match report, personal milestone, birthday shout out to the Facebook page or email it across and one of Scott, Paul, Ben, Phil, Matt or Carl will happily post for you.

Football updates.

We have two team’s so far through to a cup finals and hopefully one more will join them soon.

The under 12 reds sponsored by JA Jones flooring are through to the cup final against our friends at Fleetwood Hesketh, both teams are top of their respective leagues so it should be a good game, good luck to Carl, Lee and the boys.

Ben’s u9 blacks team made it through to the final with a tense 2-1 semi final win over Formby JSC with two well taken goals by Thomas Minto, the first was expertly taken with a deft finish with the outside of his boot past the on rushing keeper. They will play S&AA at Burscough in March.

Both under 11 teams got beat in the semi-finals, the u11 blacks went toe to toe with Redgate Rovers and unfortunately conceded a last second penalty in extra time to lose the game 3-2. Everyone there thoroughly loved the game and said it was a proper cup tie that had a bit of everything, unfortunately someone had to lose but we wish Redgate all the best in the final.

The under 11 reds lost out to Birkdale United in their semi final in a game where the 5-0 scoreline didn’t reflect the game. Rob, Alan and the lads have made tremendous progress this season and being in a semi final is testament to all the hard work the team has put in.

Stephens u10 blacks have their semi final this coming weekend at 11am on Deansgate Lane (5th March) Good luck boys!

And last but not least the mighty under 8 reds are taking part in the Craven Minor League trophy event finals this weekend at Edge Hill University from 1pm, if you are at a loose end please go down and support Scott and the boys!

Thanks for reading, Paul