News

The following article was published on WarwickshireWorld regarding our disability side!

Leamington FC wants footballers for its disability teams which are coached by a Commonwealth Games 'Hometown Hero'

The club has three sections for young players with physical and hidden impairments but is hoping to expand this to include an adult team, a cerebral palsy section and a group for framed football.

Leamington FC are asking youngsters and adults with physical and hidden impairments if they want to get involved in its relaunched disability football section.

The club had tried to get the venture off the ground before lockdown in 2020 but had to wait until September of this year to relaunch the training sessions, which take place at Aylesford School in Warwick.

The club are offering a chance for players who have disabilities to engage in regular training with the hope of creating teams to compete against other disability teams across the region and surrounding areas.

Leamington FC disability football players and coaches including Mark Fogarty and Kev Redmond.
Players who are already training with the club have a range of disabilities and there are currently three sections in place - under-16s, under-12s, and under-8s.

But the plan is to expand this to include an adult section of players aged 16 and above - for which there are already a few signed up - a cerebral palsy section and a group for framed football, which is an adapted football form in which children who use a walker or walking frame can also get involved in the sport.

Training is currently free of charge due to sponsorship money received from construction firm the Hardyman Group, which has also bought kits for the players.

The club is also in the planning stage of creating a multi-sports disability academy with a school for students aged 16 and above with the aim of not only providing them with a further education but to enable them to work within the sports sector.

Young players for Leamington FC's disability football section at Aylesford School.
The programme was set up by Mark Fogarty, the club's head of football development.

He said: "“The whole ethos we have at Leamington Football Club is to include everybody.

"The sign of a very good football club is one that is built on a solid foundation, and that foundation for us is the work we do within the disability community.”

“We believe it's important that we have kids with disabilities playing alongside each other.

"Some of these talented youngsters may have struggled in mainstream football because of their impairment and may not have had the same opportunities as others, which often leads to them leaving the sport they love.

"Our aim has always been to create a welcoming and safe environment for players with impairments to thrive, develop and feel like one of the team.

"This is one of the reasons we wanted Kev Redmond involved.

"He will bring an energy into the club, which he succeeded in doing at the last centre he worked at. ”

Kev, who is Leamington's lead disability coach, was recently announced as one of 14 Hometown Heroes – inspiring champions of community sport in the West Midlands – by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for the work he did with the cerebral palsy squad during his time as a coach with Solihull Moors FC.

Kev said: "“It was humbling to be selected as a Hometown Hero.

"I've always put the players first, pushing them and encouraging them to have the confidence to take on challenges that come their way – both on and off the pitch.

"Receiving that recognition from Birmingham 2022 is a reminder to me why I give so much of my time to support them - it’s all about seeing the players improve their skills and leave with a smile on their faces. “

"Over the summer, Mark offered me the opportunity to coach within a local SEND school as part of the community work the club is involved in.

"Having worked with Mark previously at another Ability Counts centre, he also wanted me to head up the disability centre running from Aylesford.

"How could I refuse such an opportunity?

"I have a great team around me at Aylesford - one of whom was previously one of my cerebral palsy players who showed an interest in coaching.

"The club took him on board and we're now mentoring him as he starts his journey into disability coaching.

"The sessions put on are structured around the different age groups, as well as the needs of the players, and follow a certain format every week, working on players' health and fitness of both body and mind along with fun footballing activities.

"Each session starts with a warm-up, followed by some fitness exercises.

"There will be technical drills that introduce ball activities and an aspect of tactics, depending on age, ending in a small-sided game.

"We encourage parent participation in all our sessions - this has helped a lot of our players get involved initially before taking the lead themselves.

"It is always great to see that type of progress”

Anyone interested in getting involved in the sessions can come along to Aylesford School on a Saturday morning.

The sessions run from 10.45am to noon.

There is also more information on the Leamington FC Pan-Disability Football Facebook page, or via the @LeamDisability Twitter account.

Email enquiries can be made to mark.fogarty@leamingtonfc.co.uk kevredmond70@gmail.com and emma.pheasey@ericsson.com

The National League have released the following statement...

Media Release – Premier League New Funding

18 November 2021

The National League Board is delighted to receive news from the Premier League of  fresh Covid Impact Funding to assist all our member Clubs.

This additional funding forms part of the Exclusion Order agreement with Government relating to the three-year renewal of the Premier League’s UK live and non-live broadcast rights. 

The League will receive an additional £5m funding over the next four seasons; with £2m this season in recognition of the extra pressure on Clubs due to the pandemic with an additional £1m for each of the following 3 seasons. This is totally new funding and as stated, arises from the agreement referred to in the previous paragraph

The National League Board has met to consider the immediate distribution of this additional £2m funding and decided that this should be divided as 50% to Step 1 and 50% to Step 2.

National League Chairman Jack Pearce said: “The National League has been in regular discussion with the Premier League and other football organisations to discuss funding throughout the game.  This latest announcement is brilliant news for National League clubs for which we, as a Competition, are extremely grateful. 

“We welcome this new funding which comes after the Premier League assisted with the provision of valuable financial support during the pandemic that was crucial to the livelihood of clubs. The impact of COVID-19 was particularly severe at our level of the game and this new commitment is a timely boost which will aid clubs in their recovery and enable them to plan for the future.”

The NL Board are extremely grateful to our Chairman Jack Pearce for his assistance with the decision makers to obtain much need support for our members club

November 17 has been a fairly memorable date in the history of our football club, as this trip down memory lane demonstrates.........

17/11/1934 - Singer were beaten 7-2 at home in the Coventry & North Warwickshire League Division 2 - Rawlings (2), Edwards, Norton, Harwood, Gardner and Smith the scorers.

17/11/51- Moor Green were defeated 2-1 away from home in the 3rd Round of the Birmingham Senior Cup - Wally Soden with both goals.

17/11/56 - A 3-1 home win over Stourbridge in the Birmingham & District League in front of 1,054 at the Windmill Ground - Burrows with a brace and Hartley were the goalscorers.

17/11/62 - Stourbridge were beaten at home again, 4-2 this time in the West Midlands Regional League. Syd Hall, Barry Shorthose with two and Peter Newbery the scorers.

17/11/70 - Gloucester City were the victors in an FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round Replay at the Windmill Ground, by 2 goals to 1. Kevin Vale was our scorer.

17/11/73 - Back to form on November 17th as Bedworth United were thrashed 5-1 at the Windmill in the Southern League Division 1 North in front 232. Lee and Brady with two each and Goodfellow were the goalscorers.

17/11/79 - Stafford Rangers 1 AP Leamington 1 in the Alliance Premier League in front of 1,044 people at Marston Road. Duncan Gardner scored a last minute equaliser for Brakes.

17/11/84 - West Midlands Police were beaten 4-3 in 2nd Round of the Birmingham Senior Cup at Tally Ho! Was Jim Scott playing for the Police that night? You will have to ask him! Paul Sinnott (2), Lamin Konteh and Carlo Rossi were the Brakes scorers.

17/11/87 - Brakes entertained Birmingham City in the 2nd Round of the Birmingham Senior Cup and lost 4-1, with an own goal our consolation on the night.

17/11/01 - Polesworth North Warwicks 2 Leamington 3 in the second round of the Birmingham County Vase in front of 120. I vividly remember feigning illness at work to be able to go to this game!!! Darren Timms, Jonny Burgess and Josh Blake were the goalscorers.

17/11/04 - A 2-1 defeat at Massey Ferguson in the Birmingham FA Midweek Cup, in front of 90 (mostly, probably nearly all Brakes) fans. Jon Adams scored our goal.

17/11/09 - Paul Holleran's first home game in charge of Leamington was a Birmingham Senior Cup tie - and what a game it was! Future England keeper Jack Butland was in goal for Birmingham City's youngsters, and he had a fantastic game, but was unable to prevent Brakes from winning 3-2 with a dramatic late winner from Luke Corbett. Mark Bellingham and Chris Murphy were our other scorers.

17/11/12 - Leamington 3 St Neots Town 0 in the Southern League Premier Division - Big spending, ambitious St Neots rolled into town and were duly sent packing with three goals in the opening 20 minutes from Liam Daly, Steph Morley and Lee Chilton in front of 707 at the New Windmill Ground.

17/11/18 - Leamington 1 Chester 0 in the National League North. The grass was too long, the ball was too round and other such excuses were made, but Colby Bishop's 84th minute goal saw off Chester at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium. 975 were there to see it.

17/11/20 - Leamington 4 Alfreton Town 3. It would be so much better to be able to say 'Who could ever forget that they witnessed this game?' But sadly it was played behind closed doors due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Nevertheless it turned out to be one of the most thrilling encounters played out on Harbury Lane in recent years as Brakes somehow turned round a 0-3 half time deficit to win 4-3 with an injury time diving header from captain Jack Edwards. Sam Osborne's brace and Lance Smith's equaliser preceded it.