Little Gaddesden JFC - Early Days

Saturday morning 'kick about' sessions had been going on in Little Gaddesden for around 5 years when a decision was taken to structure the training sessions more formally and to arrange games for the younger players. At first we had very little equipment of our own: boys brought their own footballs for training sessions and we borrowed cones from the tennis club. The first matches were played with borrowed goals and team shirts. Under 8 team at Raiders tournament
Under 8 team at Berkhamsted Raiders tournament - June 99
Top, from left, Elliott, Robert, Freddie, Jamahl
Bottom, from left, Alex, James, Sam, Rupert
The first tournament entered by Little Gaddesden JFC was in June 1999 at Berkhamsted Raiders. The highlight of this was some fine team play and the winning of our first trophy - the Fair Play award to the under 11 team.
Under 10 team at Raiders tournament During the summer much work was put in to plan the teams for our first season and enter them into leagues. Iain attended a Junior Team Managers course run by Dacorum B.orough Council. Following this, DBC gave us a grant to buy some training balls.
We held a fundraising 5-a-side tournament in May and together with some funds from the former senior football club in Little Gadddesden we had enough to buy one set of goal posts and some kit.
Under 10 team at Berkhamsted Raiders tournament - June 99
Top, from left, Josh, Scott, Phillip, Chris
Bottom, from left, Robert P, William, Robert T
The kit took several months to arrive and we were saved from being the only topless team in the local leagues by the loan of shirts from Little Gaddesden school and the donation of shirts from the senior football club.

Click here to return to home page.