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U11's Supplementary league tournament

The U11s recently finished a Supplementary league tournament which involved a total of 8 clubs.

They managed to finish 5^th and with teams coming from as far as Witney and also teams that play in the league above them this was a tremendous result . This was a good experience for the team and I hope it has boosted their confidence so that they can go on and do well next season.

 On a personal note I would like to thanks to all the parents for their support and a special thank you to my assistants Alan, Phil and Stuart for their commitment, it really is appreciated.

 And last of all I would like to tell the boys how very proud of them I am, it has been pleasure to coach you and to see the improvement over the season .Look forward to seeing you all next season.

 Thank you

Lance

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U10's

On the 3^rd of May 2008 Grove Challengers U10s, plus mums, dads, brothers and sisters, grand parents, aunties, and uncles sent off to go on tour to Bournemouth.They entered two teams, one managed by Nobby “superb” Barson, and his players were Mark Roberts, Pony Broad, Dom Brack, Stewie Moff, Louis Hart, Sammy B, Liam Pott, and we also saw the return of Max Moralee, up from Cornwall.The other team, managed by Dickie “Bird” Farmer, were: Badge Whitehead, George Ford, Robert Pearce, Ross Pack, Harry Denton, Adam Farmer, Danny Rolls, and Ben Townsend.We stayed at a holiday centre near Poole, full with trees, people, and caravans.Although there was no football on the first day the kids were more than amused spending endless hours in the arcade and exploring the facilities.Saturday morning dawned far too early, as we had to be on the road by quarter to eight to get to the pitches which were by Bournemouth airport. Once we arrived at the site the boys warmed up and then got into action, with a beautiful warm sun shining over us, almost bidding us good luck.Nobby’s team started off brightly, winning 1-0, but unfortunately Dickie’s team lost 1-3,There were constant shouts of encouragement coming from all four pitches which were surrounded by forest, but they were all drowned out by the delighted shouts of Nobby, as his team won 4-0. He was so loud he even drowned out the regular roar of jet engines taking off from the nearby airport.There was a brief period where there wasn’t a game being played, so I decided to go and get a drink. But since I am used to having reasonably priced things when I am watching the U10’s play football, I was shocked when I saw the prices they were charging for refreshments, and also they took forever to serve me!When I got back I was just in time to see a Stewie Moff volley creep in during a 2-0 victory.At the end of the first day the results had gone like this; Nobby “3-on-the-trot” Barson, 1-0, 4-0, 2-0 and Dickie “Bird” Farmer, 1-3, 0-2, 0-0, 0-0.

 The last two years we have been on tour we went to the beach after the boys had played their matches, but unfortunately this wasn’t possible on Saturday, so some of us amused ourselves in the swimming pool, which was very warm, crowded, and wet.After that we wasted more money in the arcade for a while before some of us took part in the quiz, which was won after great work by the combined talent of the Brackenburys and the Fords.

 The next day dawned yet again too early, and to make matters worse there was no Match of the Day to watch on TV in the morning!Again we set off for the pitches, but this time the weather was cold and cloudy, but this didn’t bother either team, as both Nobby (second in the quiz last night!) and Dickie’s teams won 1-0.Then I went for a lucozade and a sausage and bacon sandwich, and yet again it took me about 20 minutes to get served, and the food I got was horrible.Give me Grove playing fields and Jerry’s burger stall any Sunday morning!I got back to see Nobby’s team draw 0-0, leaving them in need of a win in their last match if they were going to qualify for the final. But, that wasn’t going to be easy, as I had learnt in the 20 minute queue for a burger, because the team we would play (Redhill Rangers) had come runners up in last year’s tournament and won it  for two years prior to that.When the game came Grove fought bravely but couldn’t help losing 1-0.Sunday’s results; Nobby, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1 (2^nd in the league) and Dickie “Give me more nicknames than bird” Farmer, 1-0, 0-2.

 When we got back our supposedly promised rounders game wasn’t happening because of the rain, so everyone just went their separate ways until the presentation.The presentation itself was a short and sweet affair.In previous years there was lots of build up with football chants and singing, and the celebrities (Gavin Peacock and Ray Clemence) had given long inspiring speeches, but this year’s celebrity (Harry Redknap) just told the boys to thank their mums, dads, referees, etc, and had nothing to say about himself or anything (maybe his mind was on the F.A. cup final). However, all the boys enjoyed shaking hands and collecting their trophies on the stage.On the last morning we were expecting a bit of a lie in, but as always it dawned a bit too early!

 By

Nathan Brackenbury (12)

Dom’s bro

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Grove Challengers Under 8’s

Guests of Swindon Town FC for the recent league 1 match against Carlisle United.

        The Challengers youngsters were treated to a fantastic day out as guests of Swindon Town to see them face promotion-challenging Carlisle.

        Gary Stone together with his assistants Dave Horton and Luke Stone took the squad over the border to Wiltshire and were royally treated by Swindon Town who presented the players and the management to the crowd just before kick off out on the pitch.

        Speaking as a visitor to the match that day with a bias towards the opposition from the far north, it was great to hear the name of Grove Challengers and all the names of the players and team management being blasted out from the tannoy system at the County Ground. And there was also a section in the match day programme all about the Challengers (the information provided was courtesy of Richard Talbot who does a great job in providing match reports for this age group).

        The squad was looked after on the pitch by injured defender Patrick Kanyuka who posed for photographs with the under 8’s as kick off time approached.

        Gary Stone would like to record his gratitude to Chris and Julie O’Hanlon who organised the day with Swindon Town. Both are ardent Swindon supporters and Chris has a long history with the Challengers because his mother founded the club and he himself played in the very first team to represent the Challengers.

         It was the first time most of the children had seen a football match at a professional level and were entertained by a good performance by Swindon, who may have been slightly unlucky to end up having to share the spoils after coming back from a goal down to then lead 2-1, only to see the raiders from the north equalise with 5 minutes to go to complete the scoring at 2-2.

        The children were all kitted out in their Challengers jackets and were impeccably behaved as they proudly represented the club.

        Grove Challengers would also like to record their thanks to Swindon Town for a wonderful day out for the youngsters.

        The match ball, which was signed by the Swindon players, was presented to Chris O’Hanlon who has passed it on to the Challengers who hope soon to have changing rooms / premises to display it in.

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Presidents Annual Ball 2007

On Friday the 5^th of October the Grove Challengers youth football club held their 2^nd annual Presidents Ball. This time the venue was the Drayton Park Golf Club at Drayton.

The evening commenced early after the short coach trip from Grove to the golf club and it was pleasing to see the faces of parents and guardians from a wide range of the age groups that represent the Challengers week after week.

The guest speaker for the evening was one of the stars of English football through the 70’s and 80’s – Mr. Frank Worthington. A player of extravagant skills on the pitch, and apparently no shrinking violet off it either.

 He told of his early days at Huddersfield and the disappointment of a move to Liverpool that fell through due to a failed medical in 1977.

 His injury was clearly not too bad as he went on to play more than 750 league games with successful spells at Leicester and Bolton. And it was during the spell at Bolton that he recalled the finest goal he had ever seen – indeed he scored it himself against Ipswich after some ball juggling skills and a cheeky chip over his marker before volleying the ball past the keeper. Most in the audience remembered the goal although some claimed they only heard about it from their Dad..

 He also ended up with 8 England caps to his name although many will say that a player of his talent should have had many more.

 He finished his playing days playing in the USA alongside some of the true greats in the game like George Best and Pele.

  After he had finished his excellent chat he invited question from the floor and there was no shortage of those from an appreciative audience.

  After the talk from Frank it was on with the serious business of making the awards to club members of the Presidents Shield which goes to a person who had made a massive contribution to the club over the years.

The award went to Sue Stone who was a popular and obvious choice after she had stepped down at the 2007 AGM from her committee role of Treasurer having served the maximum term according to the club constitution of 5 years. Even now she remains busy in the background taking care of the players registrations which is no mean task at the start of each season. And as well as that she now has 3 sons representing the club from the oldest in the under 15’s and the youngest in the under 9’s – and the middle son with the under 13’s.

 Sue is a true Challengers workaholic and the club would not have been in the sound state it is today without her commitment to the cause and everyone in the room recognized that when the club President - Roger Goodchild - handed her the shield.

 The 2^nd award was the Chairman’s cup which goes to the team manager who has made the biggest contribution both to his team and to the club as a whole.

 And this year the award went to Ian Woodbridge who has spend a lot of time working with last seasons under 7’s who have now moved up to under 8’s under the guidance of Gary Stone and Dave Horton.

Meanwhile Ian has worked really hard to pull together a side from last season’s under 6’s to now move through to under 7’s, where the side will soon start playing friendly matches as they are too young for the competitive edge of league matches.

 But as well as his time devoted to bringing along the youngest of the Challenger’s sides, Ian is also serving on the main club committee as the Parents Representative and Child Protection Officer which involves him chairing a sub committee of parents reps from all age groups to handle any issues brought up and feedback ideas from parents to put to the main committee to improve the running of the club. And this is a vital sub-committee as far as the progress of the club is concerned.

And if that is not enough Ian also put himself forward as a candidate in the local parish council elections in May where he polled the highest vote to take his place in the council to play his part in the crucial decision making process around the planned airfield development and other local issues.

 Again there was widespread recognition in the room that he was a very deserving person to receive the award from club chairman Terry McCullough

Pictured below are (from left to right) Sue Stone, winner of the Presidents Shield, Guest speaker Frank Worthington, Ian Woodbridge, winner of Chairman's Cup, and Roger Goodchild, Club President.

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Presidents Annual Ball 2006
 

The inaugural Grove Challengers President’s ball was held at Dalton Barracks on Saturday the 18^th of November and it turned out to be a great night of entertainment for all those who attended of which there were in excess of 100.

        The entertainment was provided by the after dinner speaker who was Mr Dermot Gallagher (Premiership referee) and Mike Reid (aka Frank Butcher of Eastender's fame) who performed his comedy stand up routine. And the night continued into the early hours with a disco, which had those present on their feet for most of the night.

        Dinner was served at 7:30 so the coaches from Grove were on the road early by 6:15.
        After dinner Dermot Gallagher spoke of his 20 plus years on the league list as a top class referee. He told of his many meetings with household names such as a clash of opinions involving some pushing and shoving between David Beckham and Robbie Keane where many suggested that Robbie Keane should have seen red – no suggestion that Dermot’s Irish blood influenced that decision.

        The players past and present rolled off the tongue with tales of incidents involving Vinny Jones, Gianfranco Zola and his fellow referees, Uriah Rennie (who he counts as his best mate within the refereeing fraternity) and Jeff Winter who it would be fair to say is low on his Christmas card list.

        Dermot also recalled his greatest moments in his career were officiating in the world youth cup final between Argentina and Brazil, and the greatest honour of his life was to meet Nelson Mandela who thanked him for taking the time to travel to South Africa to officiate.

        After Dermot Gallagher had sat down the football club had two awards to present to club members for their services to the club.

        The 1^st award was for “The Chairman’s Club Cup”, which was presented to the team manager who had run his side in the most professional manner over the last year. The club currently runs 10 teams across the various age groups so competition was strong with several candidates sitting around the room.

        Club Chairman, Ian Caldicott made the popular announcement that the recipient of the award was to be Russell Gardiner who is the manager of the under 12 side.

 Club chairman, Ian Caldicott (right) presents “The Chairman’s Club Cup” to Russell Gardiner (left) with club president Roger Goodchild in the background.

        Russell has done a great job building up a fledgling squad after many players departed last season, into a team who are pushing for promotion to the Oxford Mail A league in the under 12 age group.

        The 2^nd award of the night was the “President’s Shield” which is an award given to the person who has made the biggest contribution to the clubs activities and interests over the past year.

        Club President, Roger Goodchild made the announcement again to popular acclaim, that the recipient would be Gary Stone for his services to the club across his broad portfolio of club liaison (with the clubs associated links such as Southampton FC) and also in the field of club development with the clubs ultimate aim of building their own facilities for use by the youth footballers of Grove.

 Club chairman, Ian Caldicott is flanked by the recipients of the awards - Russell Gardiner (left) and Gary Stone (right) who are toasting  the success of the evening at Dalton Barracks.

        After the awards the audience settled down to an hour’s entertainment in the shape of cockney wide-boy humour from Mike Reid. The man had come to fame with his stand up routine on the ITV show “the Comedians” many years ago but Mike showed that the passing years had not dimmed his wit at all as the reeled off joke after joke to keep the audience in stitches throughout.

        After Mike Reid had exited the floor, the disco hit a perfect theme for the night with plenty of “Madness” to get the teenagers of the 70’s and 80’s who made up the majority of those attending on their feet until the early hours before the coaches departed at 2am.

        Grove Challengers would like to put on record their appreciation to the army for the use of the Sergeant’s Mess at the barracks and also the support given by the attendance of many of the soldiers based at the barracks.

        Speaking after the event, club President Roger Goodchild said “It was with great pleasure and delight to be asked to have a very important trophy named after me, and to be able to present it in such splendid and formal surroundings. The quality of the evenings food and entertainment befitted the very prestigious awards that were given to recognise the excellent contributions made by the individuals concerned who know from the enjoyment all the many people who attended had on the night, that this will be a popular yearly event for many years to come. Thank you to all the people who did so much to make it a successful evening.”

        That was a view echoed within the club members since the event with unanimous agreement that the night was a brilliant success for the club with everyone already thinking about the next one.