Hethersett
Athletic |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Record Section
Club Matters
Miscellaneous Matters
|
A National FA Community Charter Club Founded
- 1991 Annual General Meeting July 2011 The club's annual general meeting for 2011 was held at Park Farm Hotel on Monday 11th July. Club Chairman Peter Steward reported on another busy season. His report is re-produced below: Hethersett Athletic is 20 years of age –
relatively young in terms of a football club but in that time we have
put together teams for both sexes and all ages from six upwards and
everyone connected with the club both in the past and the present should
be congratulated in turning our club into one of the most vibrant in
Norfolk. As we enter our third decade, and the coming season
will be our 21st, we are celebrating what has been achieved
in the past but very much looking forward to an exciting future. Running the club is now similar to running a small
business and we must never lose sight of the efforts put in by so many
people to put us where we are today. Over those 20 years we have
provided competitive football to literally thousands of people. Today
there are so many things going on at the club that I must apologise if I
miss any out tonight. On the playing side it hasn’t been our greatest
season by any means, but Hethersett Athletic is not totally about
winning trophies it is more about how we go about things and how we are
perceived in the county and local communities is very important. There have been some notable successes, however.
The Under-14s finished second in their league and gained promotion.
There can’t be many teams that have gone an entire league season
unbeaten and not won the league. The Ladies team finished a highly
creditable third in the Eastern Region Women’s League despite losing
numerous players to injury. They also reached the final of the county
cup for the first time, narrowly losing 2-1 to Norwich City. Our men’s Saturday team reached the final of one
of the many Crown Fire League Cups only to be well beaten by Castle
Acre. Our Under-11s were honoured at our youth team’s funday by being
presented with the Youth Combination’s playfair award for being the
most sporting team. To do that they beat over 180 other teams – some
achievement.. On an individual front one of our senior players became
the first in the club’s history to complete over 400 league and cup
games – some achievement. One of our proudest achievements in our 20 year
history has been the awards of FA
Charter and FA Community Charter status. The latter of these reflect our
standing and close connections with the local community, something that
is not always significantly recognised. To underline our work in the community, we have
organised a number of highly successful events since last year’s agm.
These have included the fireworks display in November, the youth team
funday in June and our first ever club ball just a few days ago. Add to
this our coming involvement in the village Olympic celebrations which
will include our second ladies five-a-side competition and membership of
the new Hethersett and Meltons Sports Association and you can see how
vast our community involvement has become. One of my bete noirs is the
lack of recognition I still feel we receive within the village. This is
something we will continue to work to improve by liaising with councils
and other bodies. I believe things are slowly improving but
Hethersett’s support for sport is still disappointing. There is no
doubt in my mind that we give sport/entertainment (call it what you
will) to more young people than all the other youth organisations put
together. Going back to the community events a huge thank you to
Richard, Sue and Steve and their army of helpers for making all this
possible. As to the future – well that is as bright as
ever. For a long time we have been looking for our own ground. This
would give us a centre of focus, not to mention vastly improved
facilities and help in arranging fixtures. Above all it would give us a
heart. Thankfully after many years of trying we now have a
professional on board to look into land development and grants. Ian
Fieldhouse joined us this season with a remit to look at land
acquisition and grants and already a considerable amount of work has
been undertaken in both fields. Tonight we are going to introduce a new
post of club physio. These are two vital new roles. And that brings me on to our need for more
volunteers to get involved. Coaching, managing and running a team takes
great effort and commitment and many people involved with the club quite
rightly see this as their full contribution. We now need a team of
specialist people to take on specific non playing roles at the club.
This will be particularly important if and when we do get our own land. Which takes me on to the current club officers and
a very important person we will be saying goodbye to today. Mike Molloy is
retiring as treasurer. Looking after the money is never an easy task and
I know at times Mike and many others have become frustrated at
continually having to chase up match fees and ensure certain teams are
paying their way. Mike has been a highly effective treasurer but he has
been much more than that, supporting the club at fetes, fundays and
numerous events and we owe him a great debt of gratitude. Mike knows where the open door is if
he ever wants to return. I don’t want to steal Mel’s thunder and I’m
sure that he will mention this in his secretary’s report but there are
areas in the administration of the club that we need to tighten up on.
It is very frustrating at times to find teams failing to commit to the
basics that go to running a successful club. Once again we need to
further foster the one club ideal. We are all in this together for the
good of our club and the local community and the boys and girls, men and
women who play for us. The club now has a number of special trophies. Our
most prestigious is the Lee Thompson Memorial Shield awarded annually
for outstanding service to the club. This year the very worthy winner
was James Rice for performing numerous roles including playing for two
men’s teams, coaching the Under-11s and being the main organiser of
the village come and try sports day which this year takes place on
Saturday July 23rd on the Memorial Playing Field. And talking about the Memorial Playing Field we now
have good representation on the Memorial Playing Field Trust through
myself and Mel Perkins who were elected at the annual parish meeting in
May. We found it impossible to work with the former trust and there was
no doubt in my mind that our very existence on the field was seriously
threatened unless something positive was done. Now we are negotiating
with the new Trust for a proper agreement that will give us some measure
of safety of tenure, particularly in the light of possible plans to
improve facilities on the field. I have a feeling that the rest of this year and all of next year will be a vitally important time for the future of our club. Working together we can become a real force in local football. I know the way we run our club is the envy of many. Now we just need to improve our facilities so that we can build on what has been achieved over the past 20 years. * * * Club secretary and founder Mel Perkins said Hethersett Athletic would be entering seven different leagues next season with a youth team in the Norfolk Christian League for the first time. Club membership stood at 335. During the past season the club had played 290 league games but the weather had made pitch arrangement difficult once again. He spoke about the club's hopes and dreams of having its own ground. "There cannot be another club in the country providing football to this extent that doesn't have its own facilities," he said. Mel outlined a "good discipline" record with only 37 bookings during the season which works out at approximately one booking every nine matches. The club had five sending offs but a number of FA punishments had been cut after various appeals. Treasurer Mike Molloy produced a statement of accounts, pointing out that the club continued to "get bigger and more complex." A new post of club physiotherapist was introduced with Colin McDermott taking on the role. The club is looking for an assistant secretary to take minutes and keep a database of players and registrations. Officers elected were as follows:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||