Henfield Football Club is a big part of the village community – with over 150 youth and over 60 adults playing each weekend. Its reach goes even further, with many youngsters’ parents and grandparents braving the elements to watch their matches.
May. Once again, it was a huge success with over 136 squads taking part. Estimates are that Henfield welcomed at least 1,500 visitors over the week-end. Thanks go to all the volunteers that helped out – stewarding, refereeing, selling programmes, marking out the pitches and all things besides. Without you, there would be no tournament. The highly commended 40 page full colour programme featured over 20 local advertisers, not forgetting that many businesses provided raffle prizes and of course sponsor our teams throughout the season – a big thank you to them. These local owner-managed businesses deserve our patronage.
Congratulations to coach Darren Angood, who saw all three of his Henfield teams (the U11s, U14s & U16s) reach their respective finals, having progressed through the group stages and the semi-finals. Both the U14s & the U16s won and were crowned 2014 Henfield FC Tournament Winners, with the U11s only losing with the very last kick of their final match. Henfield’s U15s, under Simon Andrews’ guidance, were worthy winners in the final of their age group as well. So all in all Henfield FC tournament football is in pretty rude health! Over the week-end, statto (Darren) tells me that 692 goals were scored in 372 games. An average of 1.86 goals per game!
As a Charter status club, we invest heavily in both training courses and CRB checks for those involved with coaching. Evening winter training necessitates floodlight use and although we are very lucky to have an excellent floodlit pitch at The Rothery, this does become over-used and the pitch quickly deteriorates over the season. We have improved the pitch area near the limited floodlight facility at The Kings Field for the younger age groups, and we continue to look at ways of relieving the load on The Rothery. I guess it’s a good problem to have! A multi-purpose all-weather floodlit facility is something that Henfield as a village should aim for and the Club is looking to start discussions with interested parties over the coming year.
Paul Samrah, Chair - Henfield FC.
