Football Focus Issue 70 | Page 35

Newark Town are not going so well, the “family” feel of non-league football helps to keep you going. As regards the challenges, keeping up with the endless tweaking of the rules and regulations is a challenge, while at a club level, a prime example of a stress- making situation is the late postponement of a match, with the endless list of people to phone, text and email. The increased use of the internet in dealing with administrative duties such as paying fines, sending in player registrations and submitting match reports has obviously made a great difference to the secretary’s role.” Atmosphere Youth Ambitions “The youth set up at Newark is an integral part of the club. At present we have over 200 registered junior players at the club and run 16 teams ranging from Under 7 to Under 18, with an Under 18 girls team also established. The junior section is seen as a continuous process where eventually players will progress into senior football with Newark Town.” “Ideally, given that the development planned in Newark does go ahead, I would hope that the club would attain at least Step 6 and possibly Step 5 status in the next five years. Obviously the higher up the pyramid you go the more it costs to sustain the level of football, so in common with every other club, sponsors have to be found, along with more volunteers to share the workload. Also a flow of players from the junior ranks who are and remain committed to representing their town club is of great importance and vital for the future of the club.” “There’s an optimistic feeling at Station Road at the moment. Collingham FC are undertaking ground improvements to achieve an H grade for next season which would hopefully enable both us and our host club to enter the FA Vase for the first time since 2011. Spirits are also raised by the prospect of the building of a sports hub in Newark, work on which will start, we hope, in the near future. This is planned to have a 3G pitch with a 600 seater stand which, being situated in the town would have a big effect on the numbers which would be attracted to our matches.” www.footballfocusmag.com 35