Welcome to Riverfield Football Club

A very warm welcome to Riverfield Football Club, a community football team set up and run by a dedicated and enthusiastic group of people with one purpose in mind – to offer fun and quality football coaching to all children in the local community, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or playing ability!

How We Began

Riverfield F.C. was founded on the 1st of May 2006 by two F.A. coaches, Alan Jones and Andy Plane. They had been coaching a group of up to 20 mixed ability under 9 children boys at one of the local primary schools for the previous two years.
When they realised that at the end of their current academic year, a lot of the boys would be moving up to different middle schools, some with no provisions for playing in a school team, they decided to set up their own club where the children would be guaranteed the opportunity to play in an organised and safe way, at least once a week.

Training Sessions

Training takes place every Saturday from September through to July, weather permitting, in line with school terms and holidays.
Training starts at 9.30am prompt and ends at 11am and consists of good quality, fun coaching exercises, leading to a match to be played at the end of each training session. Riverfield will also try to arrange friendly 7 a side fixtures against local middle schools and local league clubs, in order to aid the development of their players and the club.
Each child is requested to provide each week its own named water/drinks bottle, trainers and football boots, as well as appropriate training kit, dependent upon weather conditions. This may include waterproof jacket and jogging bottoms should the need arise.
All children are required to be dropped off and collected each week by a known and named adult as we take the safety of our children as our number one priority on all occasions.

In time, as the club develops, so too will the numbers of players coached across all age groups. In time, Riverfield hope to be able to also field our own sides in league competitions, should the support and interest be there to do so.

How Riverfield F.C. works

The Club has a properly constituted committee, which will meet, at agreed intervals no less than four times per year, to discuss all matters pertaining to the running of the club. Committee members include The Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Manager and Child Protection Officer, along with other general committee members. Other roles will be created and designated as the club grows and develops.
There will be an Annual General Meeting in May of each year to discuss the progress of the club and the plans for the following twelve months.

Funding

Riverfield Football Club is a community club run by volunteers. It is a non-profit organisation and no one associated with the club seeks to make any financial gains. We have applied to Awards For All for Funding for the purchase of training equipment, kits and associated items, as well as looking to train more coaches, some of them to a higher F.A. level to further improve the quality of the coaching available to the children.
We have also applied to local and national businesses for support and sponsorship to further develop the club. All donations of old sporting kit and equipment, which your children may have outgrown or discarded, would be greatly welcomed and received.
Every Riverfield player pays an annual membership fee at the beginning of each season to pay towards the pitch hire costs for the year.
The Club produces an annual financial report, which is available to be audited by an independent examiner.

Peace of Mind

Riverfield’s aim is to ensure that all coaches have at least Level 1 F.A. Club Coach Award or equivalent. Our coaches already have this minimum requirement and future recruits will be required to have or work towards this also.
Apart from coaching methods, the Level 1 course also provided with emergency aid and child protection certificates for all those qualified. Both Alan Jones and Andy Plane are members of Football Association Coaches Association and all subsequent coaches who join Riverfield Football Club will be required to join FACA too.

The Club also have a designated Child Protection Officer to co-ordinate this vital aspect of adults working with youngsters.

Quality Assurance

We believe in offering a high level of quality and professionalism in running our club and dealing with our members and intend to ensure that everybody associated with the club, from the players through to all Riverfield’s spectators conduct themselves in a manner that befits that community ethos of the club. To this end, we have comprehensive codes of conduct for players, coaches, officials, parents and spectators. We also have clear policies on anti-discrimination, equal opportunities, child protection, vetting of volunteers and complaints, as well as ensuring that all our coaches are fully trained according to F.A. standards. It is our intention to apply for the Football Association’s Charter Standard Award, which is the seal of approval to ensure that we operate at a high level of competence, integrity and safety in everything that the club does.

Moving Forward Together

Hopefully, we have clearly stated the aims and intentions of Riverfield F.C. – now its over to YOU! Our players will be encouraged to play with commitment, enthusiasm, and determination, whilst always displaying good sportsmanship. These qualities need to be supported and shown by all the officials, parents and spectators who are associated to our club.

We also recommend that you visit the Soccer Parent part of the F.A ‘s website at http://soccerparents.thefa.com/soccerparent.htm

In this area you can gather information about how you, the "Soccer Parent" can help. When you have completed the activity you can choose to take an FA qualification on-line. Once you have achieved a mark of over 75% you will be able to immediately print your certificate. Also, encourage your child to take part in the Soccer Kid activities on the site too, which will help to illustrate the objectives of Riverfield Football Club.

We hope to develop the club so that it has an excellent reputation as a community club for years to come. Please do all that you can to help us achieve this and maintain our good standing along the way.