Stort Valley History…………………
04 Mar 2007

The Stort Valley egg was fertilised by The Stort Valley sperm in the summer of 2006. The embryo grew and grew into a monstrous Twenty-Two legged monster ready to conquer the world, or at least the Terry Reed North West Essex football league, Division 3.

Co-Founders James (Billy) Bayliss, Jon Mann and Matt Boardman were given the task of finding a squad capable of such a feat. So……. Stort Valley were fortunate enough to discover that Pearce Utd had folded and players of high calibre were available on the transfer market. Players such as Adam Watlin, Neil Harvey, Matt Hayler, Neil Boswell, Paul Whitehead and Danny McGurk were snapped up in an instant.

The foundations of the squad were built, and continuing with the recruitment success, Matt Boardman turned to family members Ben Moore (Brother) and James Fossey (Cousin) to bolster the squad, together with fellow Liverpool fan Steve Willett. Jon Mann sought out former college buddy and all-round good mate Andrew Sully to add to the ever-growing beast. A drunken night in H2O (That’s the Attic to all you young whipper-snappers) saw Jamie Hornett agree to sign up. Good mate and funny-man Gav was also brought in via the pub circuit.

The team was lacking some reliability & refereeing ability as well as someone who would run around like a blue-arsed fly all game with a left foot, so Tim Glenn and Matt Bloor were asked to join the wagon that was gathering pace.

Throughout the recruitment campaign, the thorn in the Valley side, was the goalkeeping position. (And frankly has been ever since.) Desperation saw Billy approach a man who he hadn’t seen since 1996 at school, and to be perfectly honest he wasn’t exactly Peter Schmeichel back then, Richard Hull. Hull is no longer with us, (he’s not dead though), and since then we have tried Danny, Willett, Ben, Boardman and Chris – who left for another sport……HOCKEY!! At present our man between the sticks is Jamie Hornett, because he saved a penalty and is very good.

So the squad was eventually formed and The Valley was ready to roll.

The journey so far has had its ups and downs, but it is all worth the effort. The team has an excellent atmosphere each game and I must admit that you would struggle to get a group of blokes that got on so well.

We have shared a few beers too, perhaps a few too many on the night of the infamous Valley Xmas do. A top night until an unfortunate event occurred as the night sky became morning sunrise. Those little Mitchell Twin Dwarf Bastards. I’m sure had the fight taken place within the six yard box of the Grange Paddocks pitch 3, the Mitchell’s would not have stood a chance against a two footed Neil Harvey challenge! Failing that, Ben would be there too!

Onwards and Upwards for The Valley!