Newsletter - Feb 2019
Welcome to our semi-regular newsletter for the whole of Appleton AFC - we have lots of news and info to fill you in on.
3G Pitch at Broomfields
We are delighted to announce that we have now successfully been awarded all the money to upgrade and extend the Broomfields astroturf pitch to a new FIFA standard 3G surface. The Football Foundation and Warrington Borough Council have together donated over £500,000 to upgrade this facility.
Appleton AFC will be the designated partner club and we will maintain our training slots on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and will have access to play matches on Saturdays and Sundays. The full sized pitch will have pitch markings for 5, 7, 9 and 11-a-side games and will come fully equipped with new goals.
The project, managed by Livewire, has received planning permission and is currently in a planning stage with an expected build start date in late April. We are tentatively planning for some kind of opening event at the end of the summer ready for use from September 2019. We shall keep you informed.
Presentation Day – Sat 22nd June
At the end of the season we hold a presentation day where each team gets to celebrate their achievements and present awards to their players. We arrange for a fun day with food and drink on offer.
With over 40 teams, we need some help in planning the day. We would really appreciate some more help to ensure the day runs smoothly.
We have a planning meeting on Monday 11th March @ 9pm at the Thorn Inn. Please come and join the team to make the day a success.
Safety guidance for players playing with glasses
Following a recent serious incident in a nearby league, the Warrington Junior Football League league have issued this guidance regarding wearing glasses. This is compatible with a similar guideline from the Cheshire Girls Football League.
"Ordinary everyday glasses CANNOT BE WORN under any circumstances, only glasses that conform to British Standard Safety rule can be worn, they must be secured with a proper support around the head, not just by an elastic band, so in a nutshell players CANNOT WEAR ORDINARY GLASSES IN A GAME"
We urge you all to be aware of the risks of wearing unsafe non-sports glasses and make you follow this new guidance. It will be upheld by referees and coaches from this weekend. The rule applies to both matches and training.
We need your help
We are the largest club in the area with over 600 kids, including around 80 in the academy and a rapidly growing band of more than 100 girls. All run by a dedicated committee of volunteers, some of which have announced that they plan to stand down next season.
As a bunch of volunteers we can do with all the help we can have. As such we have created a list of roles that we could do with some support on. Please have a look and see if you can spare some time to support us. Most of them are fairly defined roles that would not necessarily require attendance to frequent meetings.
Our AGM is on Mon 20th May, and we welcome anyone who would like to stand for any role in the committee.
Secretary
The secretary role is quite large for a club of our size and we are looking to split the role into smaller functions to make it easier.
Compounds manager
This suits a handy person. All of our match day equipment is in 3 compounds. We could do with someone to take a lead look after this and periodically check that compounds and equipment are in working order, accessible, safe and replaced if necessary.
Sponsorship manager
We have a great opportunity to make some extra money and offer companies a chance to spread their brand. We need someone to create the sponsorship packages and advertise and administer them.
Events/Social manager
We do one main social event a year - presentation day in June - so someone to lead that and if they would like to create any other events then that would be great.
Tournaments manager
We have never really hosted our own tournaments. We're keen to see what could be done but this does take some organising.
Schools liaison
We occasionally need to keep teams going by finding some more players and always need new kids feeding in at the youngest age group. A key way of doing this is to ensure that we have a good way into schools in order to advertise at the right age group. A consistent schools’ liaison officer means that we can get a good message out to all of the right schools with minimal effort.
Social Media Manager
We could really do more social media if we had someone that was more of a natural at social media!
Boot and kit recycling
Does anyone want to have a go at getting a boot recycling scheme up and running?
Pitch Inspections team
We could always do with a few more names to volunteer to have a look at the pitches on winter mornings to see if they can take a few games of football. A job that really suits dog owners that live local.
The list isn’t exhaustive and any help would be great. Please make us an offer if you have another skill that you feel that we could do with.
Please contact us if you are able to assist https://www.appletonafc.co.uk/contact-us/general-enquiries
Adult Football - Men's and Ladies'
We have started adult football for both Ladies and Gents. Both groups would welcome more players of any age, ability and fitness. It's good fun and great fitness and also forms part of our commitments to the FA regarding growing the game on the new 3G pitch. Just £3 per session.
Ladies train at Broomfields from 8-9pm on Tuesday evenings.
Men train at Broomfields from 9-10pm on Wednesday evenings.
U13N - a first for Appleton AFC?
Congratulations to the fantastically talented U13N team. Following last seasons league and cup double, they have now reached the Cheshire County Cup final. No mean feat - as far as we are aware, no Appleton team has ever reached a County Cup final before.
The Cheshire Cup final vs Birkenhead Blacks will be on the Sunday 31st of March, 11am KO at Heswall football club, CH61 1XB. It would be a great boost to the boys if we can have plenty of support on the day! Good luck in the final.
