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New Mills Juniors FC |
New Mills Juniors FC
Founded 1972
Following a family discussion in May 1972, Mike Taylor asked his 10 year old son, David if he would like to form a football team with the boys from his school. Within a few days, after a great response, a committee consisting of Mike Taylor, Gordon Kirk, Alan Hughes and Peter Fermer was formed. It was decided to call the club New Mills Juniors and to run a team at under 12. A number of fundraising events were organised to purchase a kit for the boys and all the parents got involved.
The team used the pitches at Derby Road which had no changing rooms, but the boys didn’t seem to mind, they were just happy to be playing football. The team played in the Hazel Grove and District League and continued in this league for a number of years. After the first season the club then increased to under 12’s and under 13’s and the teams carried on until the senior team reached under 16. Since then the club has added teams at under 10’s and under 11’s, so that the club is now running 7 teams each year.
As the club developed and the boys became older it became apparent that a better ground was required with changing rooms. The Town Council offered the use of Newtown Recreation Ground and 2 portakabins were acquired for changing rooms, and this has been the club’s home ever since. Ongoing fundraising activities from the parents continued for football and other equipment.
In the early 1980’s the club were very fortunate to obtain the sponsorship of Swizzels Matlow Ltd. who, since that date have provided the club with all the kit for the teams and also trophies for all players who have played that season. This takes place at the annual presentation at the Town Hall and is great social event. It is quite obvious that without the continued generous support of Swizzels Matlow Ltd. that it would be difficult to run the club.
During the last 2 seasons the club has sent under 10’s teams to Guernsey to play in a prestigious tournament which all the boys have enjoyed thoroughly. As this season 2005-2006 comes to a close we have just achieved F.A.Charter Standard. This is an award which is gained by demonstrating the high standards of coaching, child protection, equity and well run financially. This award is hard to gain and only 35 teams in Derbyshire have this. The present Secretary, Carl Heery, must take a lot of credit for his hard work on behalf of the committee to achieve this award. The club are also looking forward to obtaining a further ground comprising a full size pitch and a short-sided pitch. This should be ready for the season 2008-2009 and these facilities are again being provided for by the Town Council who supported the club so much since it was formed.
Over the last 34 years the club have had numerous successes in league and cup competitions. Some of the players have even gone on to play for Premiership and Nationwide clubs. But the biggest success of the club is that, year after year, over 150 boys have benefited from the efforts of the committee who are all volunteers.
The founder of the club, Mike Taylor, whose 3 boys played in the early years, is now Chairman and Manager of the under 16’s and include his grandson. As he points out, many of the youngsters now playing are children of the boys from those early years and a number of the mangers are former players.
There are a lot of people who have contributed to the success of New Mills Juniors Football Club and with the continued support of the sponsors, local authority and all the parents, the club should flourish for many years to come.
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