The Past
01 Mar 2006

Bridlington Town Junior Football Club.
Profile

Bridlington Town juniors were formed in April 2000 following discussions with Bridlington Town AFC with a view to promoting junior football from Town’s ground on Queensgate in Bridlington.

Made up from 22 local youngsters the two teams at that time played their football in the East Riding Junior Football league.

The club started with no finances or equipment and relied heavily on support for equipment from the East Riding Junior football league.

Within 6 years the club has gone from one with many ideas and ambitions and little else to a club that is now thriving and able to give any other local team a run for their money.

During the first season the 2 teams (Bridlington Town Blues and Bridlington Town Whites) competed in the East Yorkshire Junior Football League, mini soccer (under 10’s) and finished a respectable 4th and 5th.

During the season several fund raising events were organised allowing the club to purchase its own equipment.

In the second season playing in the East Yorkshire Junior Football League (under 11’s) the Blues won the league with the Whites runners up.

This feat has never been achieved before as most clubs have an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team with the ‘A’ usually made up from the better players and the ‘B’ usually struggling to win a game.

In 2003/4 the juniors ventured for the first time into the Hull Sunday Boys League and were entered in the 4th division (Kingston league)

The season went very well with the juniors winning the Kingston league and Fair Play trophy, sponsored by Hull City Football Club and presented for the first time to the under 13’s age group. This award was voted for my Managers of all the u13’s teams within the Hull Sunday Boys League.

This season (2004/5) the juniors are again playing their football in the Hull Sunday Boys Football League but because of the success of last season we have been promoted into the 2nd Division (Drypool league)

Over the past 6 years the club has gone from being the ‘New Kid On The Block’ to being a leading club in local junior football supported by the Committee form Bridlington Town AFC the club can only go on further achieving more accolades and trophies.

In 6 years the junior club has achieved more than other local junior clubs that have been together many years:

April 2000-Club formed.
2001/2-Outstanding Junior Club Award.
2001/2-Floodlit Cup Finalists.
2002-Bridlington Town Juniors are confirmed as a Football Association Charter Standard Club
2001/2-Under 11's 1-day Tournament-Winners
2001/2-Under 11's league champions 2002
Sept 2002-Hunmanby under 12's tournment runners up
Dec 2002-Blues named as East Riding of Yorkshire Councils Junior Club of the Year Dec 2002.
April 2003-Juniors one of the first to have FA/McDonalds community coach
May 2003-Juniors Manager recieves Commendation from ERYC
June 2003-Juniors lead out England under 21's at KC Stadium in Hull
July 2003-Juniors win E R Rangers one-day tournament
March 2004-Juniors secure team sponsorship for 2004/5
April 2004-Juniors win Hull Boys Sunday Kingston League title
May 2004-Juniors collect Hull Boys Sunday League u13's Fair Play Trophy
June 2004-Juniors reach semi finals of Sheffield Sixes national tournament
June 2004-Juniors reach final of E R Rangers Tournament
Aug 2004-Juniors nominated by ERCFA and HSBL for national FA Fair Play Award.
Sept 2004-Juniors recognised by FA (Soho Square London) for outstanding Fair Play and will received award.
April 2005-Juniors gain promotion from Drypool league.
June 2005-Juniors secure shirt sponsorship for 2005/6 from the Co-op
July 2005-Juniors secure rain jacket sponsorship from Easr Riding college and sus suits from signage solutions.
Dec 2005-Juniors recognised as outstanding football club by ERYC.
Dec 2005-Juniors hold anti racism night attended by over 250 spectators.

Throughout the year the juniors organise and run several fund raising days with profits split between the juniors and Bridlington Town AFC.

In the last 2 years the club have organised the following raising several hundred pounds in the process.

Under 12/13/14s one day tournament with teams entered from North, South, East and West Yorkshire.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council Operational Services Footballing Funday.
Several Kareoke nights.
Tony Berry Mini Floodlit League.
Christmas 2003-Bridlington Town Football Fun-day.
Halloween parties.

In the last 2 seasons we have looked at how the players perform both on and off the pitch with an emphasis on playing well but also having the right attitude and discipline to represent Bridlington Town Juniors.

We have instilled into the players and parent’s the importance of discipline without actually going overboard, and that the players should be proud to represent their team.

Over the last 2 seasons you would struggle to remember the last time any parent or supported heard any of the players swear or argue with referees.

We believe our policy works.

When we get visiting teams to our home ground they are met by ChrisWebb or Tony Booth and welcomed to Queensgate, shown around the ground (changing room’s etc) and into the clubhouse.

Following the game both teams meet in the clubhouse and receive refreshments (Sausage chips etc) paid for by Bridlington Town Juniors.

As a result of our persistence in policing our policies, in the 2004/5 season we received the u13’s fair play trophy for all under 13’s leagues (44) teams within the Hull Boys Sunday League.

League officials said that this was something special as this was the first season the award had been made and also it was unknown in other leagues for a team who has won a league to also win the fair play trophy.

During last season we also developed a procedure for recording incidents and accidents that has be adopted by other junior clubs.

In addition to this we also have in place:

Club constitution.
Child protection policy.
Club code of conduct (Players/Coaches/Parents/Supporters)
3-way partnership (Coach/Player/Parent)
Aims and Objectives.

Everything we do at Bridlington Town juniors is self-funded and we rely on the goodwill of the player’s parents our supporters and organisations like yourselves to help us through each season. We pride ourselves on being self-sufficient and stride to continue developing the players and the club.