Newbury History
24 Jan 2012

Once upon a time....
Newbury Forest FC was founded in 2003 by Marc Wakley and John Hassan. A small group of friends wishing to play local Sunday football began in typical fashion - losing almost every game, struggling for players and hoping the next result would go our way!

The club has come along way since then, Marc has relocated preventing his continued involvement but the current Chairman John Hassan is still driving the club forwards.

The expansion begins
The first significant step taken to expand the club was to introduce a reserve Sunday team to the setup in 2006 which was swiftly followed by a third team in 2007.

John's coaching background, having achieved his UEFA A Licence and worked at Watford Academy, together with being a Director of world leading coaching website Inside Soccer resulted in a very distinct playing philosophy being instilled within the club from an early stage. Players were coached regularly to adopt the playing style still in effect to this day. Newbury Forest teams will always focus possession and ball retention, developing play from back to front with expansive and creative play that players find a joy to be part of.

Whilst not always successful, and certainly technically demanding on the player, the individuals who join the club know what the ethos is and we feel enjoy the desire to play the game in the right way.

Doing it for the kids
Newbury Forest Colts were born in 2007 and we began with just 2 teams at u9 and u10 age groups. We now have 5 teams from u10 to u15 all competing in the Echo Junior Football League and our players train at our newly established Newbury Forest Academy. The training sessions take place every Saturday and we are fortunate enough to have enthusiastic, qualified coaches who are current senior players working with our youngsters.

It is a tremendous asset to the club to have senior players coaching the juniors. It creates a clear pathway for our youth teams and individual players to progress into our senior teams in the future.

Alongside the expansion of Newbury's youth teams the seniors were also taking huge strides forwards. Having repeated success in the South Essex Sunday League, winning successive promotions and league titles together with league cup wins, we felt we had the players and club structure to compete on Saturdays at a strong level.

The big boys did good
With 3 senior teams competing in Sunday football and winning back to back promotion and league titles together with cup successes it was a natural progression for the club to enter competitive Saturday football.
Since entering the Romford & District league in 2008, our First Team has not looked back. The hugely significant appointment of First Team Manager Leo Connolly led to winning the league in our first season and gaining entry to the Essex & Suffolk Borders league. Immediate success followed again as Leo and the team won promotion to the Premier Division where we are currently in first place.
Leo’s style of football has gained a rapid reputation for being crowd pleasing and exciting and the squad is ready now to make the step up another level to the Essex Senior League which is step 5 in the FA pyramid.

This step is dependent on securing our own venue which is suitable for this level of football and this comes down to finances. We are all working hard to ensure we do not become victims of our own success and hit a financially restrictive ceiling moving forwards.

Alongside Leo the club also made another signing of huge significance. Ron Dangerfield, our current Secretary is the Head of Operations at league One club Brentford FC and his knowledge, skills and expertise around successful football club management and administration has given Newbury the strong foundation upon which to continue it’s growth and subsequent success.

The hard work by Ron, Leo, the players and coaching staff deserves the rewards of promotion and we are all optimistic that a financial solution will be found to secure an adequate playing venue for the club.

We give back as well...
As the club has grown we have looked to offer many social events to our members, having taken the youth players to Wembley and Stamford Bridge stadium tours plus bowling and quasar parties.

Charity work
Over the years we have supported the Downs Syndrome Association in football events and in July 2011 we hosted our inaugural 24 hour football match youth tournament to raise more funds for this great cause.
Newbury's GoFor24 challenge gained lots of local media attention and attracted over 700 kids plus more than 500 adults to the weekend of activities.
A total of £5000 was raised and we are very pleased to say that this is an annual event in our calendar and we will strive to raise more money as each year passes.

The future's bright, the future's Newbury
The future is very bright for Newbury Forest: senior success, youth team expansion and annual events make us a significant presence in the local community and one we hope welcomes everyone to be involved in any capacity they wish.