Formby Community Football Club Launch Weekend
FCFC Turns Formby Orange!
On a cold, damp March afternoon, over a couple of drinks, long discussions and lots of enthusiasm, FCFC was born, and we knew that we had a long journey ahead of us, before we had even kicked a ball, the plan was to be match ready for September, the journey to this date can be found on our website www.formbycommunityfc.com
When we had completed the administration side of the Club, the first major milestone was our Open Day on 5th May. We were delighted with the numbers and interest shown on that day, but more excited about the passion and love shown for our Club. People understood what FCFC’s vision was, to be the Club OF the Community FOR the Community, by the Community and accessible for ALL in the community, and they supported us and wanted to be a part of it.
Our aim was to use Football as a vehicle for Community Cohesion. Fast forward 4 months, and I will bore you with some Stats: We won the Cash for Kids Sporting Challenge We were awarded a FA grant to run a Wildcats Centre for Girls aged 5-11 We were awarded a three-year funding £6000 from the Football Foundation We have achieved The FA Charter Standard Award We are playing in 8 Different Football Leagues We have 24 teams! 12 Girls Teams 9 Boys Teams 1 Ladies Team 1 Men’s Team 1 Walking Football Team 150 Females 146 Males We have our Kids Committee in place and ready to have their first meeting We have kits We have a Loyalty Card Scheme We have a FA Coach Mentor We have 209 Followers on Facebook We have 290 Followers on Instagram We have 301 Followers on Twitter We reached our next milestone on Saturday 7th September when Committee members, Managers and a multitude of players turned up at Deansgate Lane, all ready for that monumental moment of “being match ready for September”. The Under 13 boys teams were playing at home for the first time (All results and Match reports can be found on our Website), their beautiful Orange kits glistening in the morning sun. Both Under 16 Boys teams were playing away for their first fixtures, and all four Managers said how impressed they were with The Liverpool Premier League, great new Opposition, a League Committee going out of their way to help us and welcome us on board, and a new challenge playing in a three tiered League with home and away fixtures. Then it was the turn of the girls, from ages 3 up to 15, they were met by Michele who directed the girls through the trees to our pitches, and it was lovely to see all the familiar faces!
What we weren’t quite expecting were all the new faces who had heard about us, and wanted to join in, it was brilliant to see so many smiles, laughs whilst show casing tricks and flicks in our FA Wildcats Centre. As we were finishing off the session, we were then approached by more new faces all wanting to join the club as they had heard about us and watched what we were doing, and wanted to be a part of FCFC, which is great as all are welcome.
The afternoon saw our VETS team get underway in their first League game, it is great to see so many of the Dads getting involved, and the good news is ….. there were no injuries!!!! Again please have a look at the Website for scores www.formbycommunityfc.com Sunday was the next milestone, our celebration for FCFC Footballs kicking off in Formby, we had a mini tournament that ALL teams played in, just for fun, and we invited Everton’s Walking Football Team to come and take part, which they did, and have invited FCFC walking team down to play them in an away fixture. It was fantastic, to see the girls playing against the boys, the U16 playing against the Dads – I wonder if the boys will ever live it down to losing to the dads!! And the mums playing against the boys, all played in good spirits, no trophies, medals, certificates, just for the love of the game. The children had fun with the Face Painter, and inflatable, and being able to have a kick about.
We came together as a club and community and celebrated a huge milestone, there were smiles all round, laughter, and football, a great combination, as someone said to me “its like being part of a great big family and I LOVE it”!!
One of my most poignant memories of this weekend, was a parent who said to me, “as I was driving towards the cricket club, I saw a few orange shirts, as I was getting closer , I saw a few more, then when I turned into the cricket club, it was a sea of orange!!” Something we never envisaged back in March! We reached our target of being game ready for September, reaching other milestones along the way, this is down to our hard-working Committee, Managers, Parents and Children, and I think we can safely say, we painted Formby Orange this weekend!! We continue to grow and whether you are a child/parent/guardian/carer, or even a local business looking to join our Loyalty scheme we’d love you to get in touch to find out more about what we do, and what we are planning to do in the future, you can email tinafcfc@outlook.com The Future is most definitely Bright….. the Future is orange!!
