Stourport Swifts
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Stourport Swifts
FOOTBALL CLUB
Stourport Swifts FC does a fantastic job of providing people in their
community with an opportunity to play the game in a safe and enjoyable
environment. Football Focus Magazine recently caught up with their Press
Officer Ian Johnson to find out more about the club.
Involvement
He told us, “After a period of
almost twenty years, I returned to
the club in 2015, along with a group
of friends, when approached by John
McDonald and Chris Reynolds to
take on the running of the club.
I had been a player for nineteen
years at the Swifts since I was
seventeen, starting in the Youth team
in 1973, and spent the next fifteen
years as a player and committee
member, before pressure of work
eventually forced me to step down.
Like many former players, the
Swifts is a club for which I always had
a soft spot. Both Chairman Chris and
General Manager “Mac” both passed
away in 2016, and the with great
servants Ian Sword, Bryan Hewitt
and Tony Lavery still committed,
it is a huge challenge to keep the
club growing, but one we accept
with enthusiasm. The Total Motion
Midland Premier League is a fiercely
competitive Division at Step 5 on the
non-league pyramid, and it seems to
get stronger every year.”
The Role
“The challenge is to develop
and grow the club to a prominent
non-league position and develop
a thriving junior section to attract
players to the club with a view to
providing a pipeline of talent to the
first team and beyond.”
Present
“We are ever optimistic, and
despite a few setbacks, our new
manager for this season, Quentin
Townsend, has built a completely
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new team, and we finished in a Top
10 position.
We have had some memorable
milestones, with great wins for
example against top sides Sporting
Khalsa, and a Boxing Day last minute
win at home against Worcester City
in front of a crowd of 362. The biggest
disappointment was to go out at
the first hurdle in the FA Vase after
a historic run to the 5th Round last
season.”
Youth
“We see youth football as the
keystone to the club’s growth and
development. We do not have the
support or financial muscle that many
of the teams in our division enjoy,
so it is vital we create interest at all
levels and develop our own pipeline
of players.”
Integration
“We have been working on this
for the past two years, and our
Junior Section, led by Head of Youth
Development and FA Coach Steve
Shepheard, has grown to fifteen
teams. Our ‘Mini Swifts’ teams now
have Under 5’s, Under 6’s and Under
9’s sides, joining the existing U11’s,
U12’s, two U13 teams and U15’s. Two
new teams, now play on Sunday’s,
U14’s and U16’s plus 2 new girls
teams at Under 9’s and Under 11’s.
Chairman Pip Hanson runs the Under
18 team in the Midland Floodlit
League, and we will introduce a
new Under 21 side next season to the
Midland U21 Division.”
The Future
“Our ongoing challenge is to
generate sufficient funds to move the
club forwards at all levels. We need
to increase our gate on Saturdays at
first team level to promote more local
interest. We desperately need new
changing rooms and toilets, and to
improve ground facilities to enable us
to eventually move to a higher level.”