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Club History
Valley Colts Football club was formed in April 1992.
The name Valley Colts was the idea of Gill Fox and Penny Hughes whose sons
were founder members. It was decided that as we were breaking away from
another Hempstead club, we did not want Hempstead in our name, so it was
decided that Valley would be a good start as we lived in Hempstead Valley
also we had managed to secure the use of Mierscourt School, which stands
in the Meresborough Valley. It was decided that as we were a boys club we
would add the name Colts also it was the symbol of Kent.
The new committee decided the Clubs colours, which are the same as today
Red/White/Blue in any combination.
The committee was made up of parents of boys who wanted to play football
and be able to progress and grow as a club.
It was decided that we would give all boys of all abilities the chance to
play for the club and that we made sure that we remembered who we were doing
this for.
We did not have quite enough players at first so we advertised in the local
papers and at Eurosport & Leisure. Our advert said that boys of all
abilities were welcome to come along and train and help the club grow to
what it is today.
We started with 5 teams at U12’s coached by Peter Fox, U11’s
coached by Phil Stacey, U10’s coached by Gary Streatfield, U9’s
coached by Alan Pritchard and the U8’s who were coached by Chris Dunn.
We held a design the club badge competition and this was won by Dean Herbert
from the U11’s. This badge is still used today.
Our first sponsorship deal was with Prosperity Finance. This was secured
by the hard work of Ernie Macias who worked for the company at the time.
As we had very little money all our coaches paid for their coaching courses
out of their own pockets. They all went on the referees and first aid courses
and refereed for each other each week.
Our first competitive season was 92/93. In this season the U12’s were
runners up in Division 2, they also won the Sportsman’s trophy. This
was a great achievement as this group of boys had previously played for
teams that had always struggled.
The U11’s and U10’s also had very good first seasons finishing
in the top half of the divisions. At this time there were no competitive
leagues for under eight and nines, they were only allowed to play friendlies.
This they did and both teams got some good results, although the main aim
was for the boys to learn and enjoy the game.
From this season onward, we achieved success quite quickly with teams winning
cup finals and leagues.
In the early days when the club was smaller, Melanie Kirk and Gill Fox would
sit by the pavilion on Hempstead Rec (come rain or shine) and collect the
club subs.
This would also be a time when social events would be advertised. There
used to be a boot bank too. This would be where parents could donate boots
that their sons had grown out of to the club, so that if a boy had left
his boots at home or lost them there would hopefully be a pair in the bank
to fit him. |
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