AFC Whitchurch is a non-profit club for young players living in the villages surrounding Whitchurch-on-Thames. The 'not-so-young' players also get together for regular matches.
If you live in or around these villages then you may be interested in joining us: Pangbourne, Whitchurch-on-Thames, Whitchurch Hill, Woodcote, Goring. We currently have five youth teams, the oldest being under 13s in the 2005/6 season.
Each team is organised with a Coach, typically an interested parent who has been on a professional coaching course and kindly gives up their time to coach the youngsters. Where possible a team has two coaches sharing the duty so that they can get some time off! A 'parent representative' is also appointed for each team to assist with communication, collecting fees, and generally helping to supervise.
Younger teams, typically under 11, play 7-a-side games on smaller pitches with smaller goals. This gives them a more enjoyable game and helps them focus on developing their skills. Beyond this age the teams are usually 11-a-side and play on full-size pitches. Each team also includes 3 substitutes and, according to demand, additional players. We do our best to rotate the team selection so that everyone gets to play in league matches.
The teams meet and play in training each week - outside during the summer and inside during the winter months when we rent a local school sports hall. During the playing season the teams are entered into a local league, usually the Hicks Development League or the South Chilterns League. Depending upon the league and the team age, a weekly match is played on a Saturday or Sunday.
Fees
The club is a non-profit organisation, so we're not trying to make a profit from training the players and organising matches. However, we do have some significant costs - Winter hire of Sports hall, purchase of players' strip, footballs, goals, league match fees, awards, coach training... and the list goes on. So we make an annual charge currently set at £30 per player, plus £10 as a contribution towards the cost of winter training, so £40 per year in total. If you receive the regular mailings about football training during school holidays you'll know that it's usual to pay over £100 for a young player to attend for just a few days! But those are profit-making organisations (and many are very good), whereas we operate for the benefit of the players. There is an optional additional fee (usually £30) to cover weekly training throughout the summer, and a charge of £3 per league match is charged to those who play in the match each week.
See for yourself
All the players and family members attending training and matches have a great time. If you would like to see training or matches in action, email us to find out the times and places and come along to see for yourself.