Tuesday, 19 March 2024 - 11.35 am

Trophy Day 2020!

The main event of the year! As with all Trophy Days we start with our Chairman’s review of the year before we get to the individual achievement awards.

Chairman’s Message:

Normally, at this time of year, we would be holding our end-of-season Trophy Day to recognise the efforts and achievement of players and teams, and to thank those whose contributions make it all possible.

Clearly, this year is an exception. The impact of the Coronavirus, and the restrictions that have been imposed, make any group gatherings impossible so, this year, we have decided that each age-group/team should arrange an individual update with their teams to close out the season.

From a club point of view there has been much to celebrate this season. Club membership is up on last season and we have teams at most age-groups; from the Mini-Rangers up to U14, plus our U17 Lions teams. We continue to provided enhanced coaching opportunities, particularly the partnership with Woking FC in the Community that provides dedicated coaching sessions for the younger age-groups. We also started running dedicated goalkeeper training session for interested players; those sessions taking place at the newly opened 3G facility at King’s College. Being a community football partner with King’s College has enabled a number of our teams to move their training sessions to this amazing new facility which is much closer to the players and communities we serve.

The club remains financially sound. This has been helped this year by the fantastic efforts of the Groom family who have re-invigorated the tuck shop at Northmead, generating  additional income for the club and providing a real focal point that brings back the “community” feel that has been a rather missing over the last couple of years. Our thanks to both the Groom family, and those of you that contribute your “hard earned” each week to support the end-of-training sugar-rush.

In November we were delighted to be awarded the “Sports Club of the Year” award at the Sport Guildford awards, recognising our commitment to providing opportunities for children to play football in a positive and supporting environment with a focus on enjoyment and player development over outright competitiveness.

The weather had a part to play in our season this year with a number of matches and training sessions cancelled over the winter period. Once we were back up and running, and with the season heading towards it’s conclusion, the government started to imposed restrictions on both training and matches, eventually bringing our season to an early halt. Whilst safety was, and should remain, primarily on the health of everyone involved, it did mean that some of our competitive teams missed out on their scheduled Cup Finals in April and May; despite that, a big congratulations for those teams on reaching their respective cup finals! We also saw an improvement in our FA Respect scores which recognises the club’s commitment to providing a positive footballing environment.

Covid/Coronavirus continues to dominate many elements of our lives. We are aware of a number of families at the club who have been affected by Covid, and some have sadly lost family members. We offer our sympathies to all those affected. Unfortunately, in February, we learned of the passing of Paul Robinies after a long-term illness. Paul was a coach at Worplesdon Rangers from 2006 until 2017, coaching the Tigers team alongside Richard and Mark Angus. Paul was a larger-than-life character who made a great contribution to the club and his players and he will be sadly missed; our thoughts go out to his family.

As we bring our season to an end, we should reflect on the season and celebrate the efforts and achievements of everyone at the club. As ever, some children will have won “special” awards and we commend them for that, but it is important that we recognise and value every player’s contribution, so please pass on my thanks and congratulations to all the players at Worplesdon Rangers. We have not been able to distribute the actual trophies so far but we hope, once the lockdown eases enough, to be able to order and distribute trophies to everyone involved.

We should also take the time to thank everyone that makes this all happen. From coaches and managers, to the club Management Committee, and many other volunteers that work behind the scenes to make it all possible, we are extremely grateful for the time and effort that everyone puts in. Thank you!

Can I pay particular thanks to a couple of club committee members who are stepping down at the end of the season: Shaun Dyer has stepped down from the role of Commercial Officer, but will continue his involvement with the U12 Panthers/Pumas age-group. Thank you Shaun for your contribution over the last few years!

We are also sad to be saying goodbye to Sean Crooke. As well as managing the U17 Lions, Sean has been the Club Development Officer for a number of years; he has been a massive part of this club in recent years, arranging training and match venues, enhancing club facilities, co-ordinating our partnerships with Woking FC, Worpledon Phoenix and King’s College, arranging most, if not all, of the additional coaching sessions and much more besides. He will be a great loss to the club, although we have made sure he is aware that, should he get bored in all the newly-found free time that he has, he will be welcomed with open arms should he wish to get back involved! Thank you Sean for your years of contribution to the club and your team.

That, of course, opens up vacancies within our committee structure. The club can only operate if people get involved and volunteer their time to help. Whilst we welcome everyone’s contribution, there is particular emphasis on encouraging adults linked to the younger age-groups to get involved, so that there is continuity once players and adults linked to the older age-groups reach the end of their time at the club.

As the summer begins to loom, our attention moves towards next season. We do not yet have clarity on when the season will officially start, but we are still aiming to start training in September if that is allowed. Because of the disrupted end to this season we have agreed to freeze registration and match fees for 2020/21, and will consider further reductions if the season-start is delayed.

We feel it is really important that the club, players and parents are confident that football will start again in September (if allowed) so, to provide some continuity and certainty, we’d like players to register for next season as early as possible. We are concerned that, with little or no football since mid-March, players will get out of the habit of playing football and may be reluctant to return; this could threaten the viability of teams, age-groups and, even, the club, if players do not return. We are proposing an initial £20 sign-on deposit for early registrations, with the full balance to be paid once the season is under way. The 2020/21 Registration Form is now available on the club website (2020-2021-Player-Registration-Form.pdf) so please do reach out to your respective team manager(s) and let’s get those players signed up.

As the lockdown eases over the coming months we hope you will all begin to enjoy the summer, meeting up with friends and families and even, perhaps, playing a little football.

We look forward to welcoming you all back in September and hoping that 2020/21, Worplesdon Rangers’ 20th anniversary year, will be even more successful (and hopefully less disrupted) that the season just ended!

Keep safe, and see you all in September.

Andi Scanlan

Chairman, Worplesdon Rangers FC

The Awards!

The special awards for players are shown below. For some teams, these are temporarily not shown until the managers and coaches have had chance to congratulate their players in person (virtually).

U7 Dynamos

Manager’s Player Henry C
Player’s Player Ben A
Parent’s Player Jack G
Most Improved Player Oscar J
Attacking Player Alex K
Defensive Player Jacob G

 

U8 Hurricanes

Coming soon!

 

U8 Tornadoes

Manager’s Player Nathan V
Player’s Player Max A
Parent’s Player Logan O
Most Improved Player Ethan B
Attacking Player Joshua H
Defensive Player Max A

 

U9 Eagles

Coming soon!

 

U9 Hawks

Coming soon!

 

U10 Wolves

No individual awards as they’ve all been exceptional!

 

U10 Werewolves

Manager’s Player Max E
Player’s Player Sam H / Jerome M
Parent’s Player Odhran T
Most Improved Player Jake P / Harrison F
Attacking Player Szymon G / Hiristo T
Defensive Player Philip T / Chris E

Additionally, 5 years service awards go to Massimo Sanfilippo and Alex Kubunavanua! Thank you for all the effort you’ve put into helping to run the team over the years.

 

U11 Pioneers

Manager’s Player Darron A
Player’s Player Charlie B
Parent’s Player Ollie H
Most Improved Player Gabrielle T
Attacking Player Ollie S
Defensive Player Reece W

 

U12 Panthers

Coming soon!

 

U12 Pumas

Coming soon!

 

U13 Scorpions

Manager’s Player Alex S
Player’s Player Saugat S
Parent’s Player Saugat S
Most Improved Player Tyler L
Attacking Player Tom H
Defensive Player Saugat S

 

U14 Falcons

Manager’s Player Jay H
Player’s Player Mirhamza A
Parent’s Player Charlie B
Most Improved Player Leon B
Attacking Player Max R
Defensive Player Jenson C
Clubman Oliver S

Additionally a 5 years service award goes to Fraser Horne. Fraser swapped age groups a couple of years ago but has actually been coaching/managing age groups for probably around 8 years, not 5, but has never had the recognition. Thank you Fraser for all your hard work over the years!

 

U17 Lions

Manager’s Player Sam L
Player’s Player Liam A, Luke M & Finley H
Parent’s Player Jack C
Defensive Player Valerio G

 

And that concludes Trophy Day 2020! Congratulations to all the players that won a “special” award.

Next year we’ll be back with a vengeance! 2021 is the 20th anniversary of Worplesdon Rangers. I think a superb party is called for, especially after the rubbish end to the 2019/2020 season!

We’ll be back in September for more football, or at least, hopefully not too long after.

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