Newsletter January 2008

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be a regular series of newsletters. As a committee, we're often looking for your support but conscious that we may not always have been as good at communication as we should have. So I'd like to update you on a few things.

CHARTER MARK

We're confident that by the end of this season, we will be in a position to achieve the FA's Charter Mark - a national "kitemark" of good practice, showing that our coaches and managers are fully trained and that we work to the highest standards of openness, safety and child protection. Without this status, we will find it increasingly difficult to enter tournaments in future.

JACKETS

Hopefully, your child should now be wearing their new CCCFC training jacket, if you ordered one. As well as keeping off some of the wind and rain, these will also create a better team spirit and give us a clearer corporate identity at matches and tournaments.

TOURNAMENT

Talking of tournaments, we now have a date for ours. It will take place on June 28 and 29 and, as well as offering a festival of football, will also act as a significant fundraiser, helping to pay for costs such the subsidising of those jackets.

This is where we really do need your help.

Every year, we battle to get enough volunteers to look after everything from car park traffic duties to the barbecue. This year, we are considering allocating slots on the overall rota to individual teams and I'm looking for parents in each age group to act as tournament reps. This may involve attending one committee meeting but principally is all about liaising with your fellow parents to make sure your age group pulls its weight on the weekend concerned. I want to avoid a situation where a small number of people who already give up significant amounts of their spare time for this club - the committee members, managers and their families - have to do the lion’s share of work.

Please, please, keep that weekend free and play your part in making the event a success. If you are able to act as a tournament rep, please let your manager know at the earliest opportunity.

AWARDS

We have also set dates for our awards ceremonies. These will be on June 6 and 13 at the Neeld Hall, with the same age divisions as last year. I'm keen to make the event more structured than it has been in the past and particularly to avoid the kind of Peter Kay-style wedding scenario where the end of the formal presentation gives way to the chaos of children sliding around the floor and climbing onto equipment.

TEASHOP

After much deliberation, the committee has decided that money which is raised by the use of the Castle Combe building as a teashop should be centrally processed, and that we should do more to ensure that all teams have equal access to the facility.

DISCIPLINARY ISSUES

The Mid Wilts League in which most of our teams play has just called an emergency meeting to discuss standards of behaviour on and off the pitch. The number of fair play awards which our sides have won over the years speaks volumes for the sporting spirit in which the vast majority of our youngsters conduct themselves, although we can never be complacent about this.

The fact remains, however, that people are being turned off refereeing partly because of the unacceptable behaviour of a small number of players from across the league, but more significantly by the even more unacceptable behaviour of a larger number of parents and other supporters.

The league will be introducing its own code of conduct to stamp out touchline abuse and any other inappropriate language or actions, and in that they have my total support. It has been suggested that we make our parents automatic members of our club so that action can be taken against them as well as our children. Please remember that when you are standing on the sidelines watching your children, you are ambassadors for Castle Combe Colts, and leave any protests over decisions or the conduct of opponents to our managers or coaches.

And finally, on a related issue, I would be very grateful if those of you with older children could ask them to avoid posting any material on websites such as Bebo, My Space etc which could reflect adversely on the club - no matter how hard done by they feel after games.

I think that's enough for now. There's all the latest information about our on-field activities on our website - www.cccfc.co.uk - which I hope you make use of regularly.

All the best

Paul Wiltshire
Chairman