Message from the Chairman

20/5/08

I write to provide all players, parents, coaches and managers with a summary of the 2007/08 season.

In terms of football successes, it has been an excellent year for the club. Having been the first ever HRFC team to win the A Division last year, the U13A's have retained their title this season, with the U18 and U10B teams also winning their divisions. The U15B, U15C, U9B and Senior Reserves teams were runners up in their divisions, and the U11’s were our first ever Surrey Cup 11-a-side finalists, losing narrowly to AFC Wimbledon.

The organisation of the club has also improved with the development, finally, of our web site. The new site is www.hamseyrangersfc.net and all are strongly encouraged to visit it. A special thank you must be given to Anthony Lawrence and Paul Mincer who have developed the site. Paul has taken the framework suggested by Anthony and has developed what I believe to be the best web site in the League. My thanks and appreciation is extended to Paul for his sterling efforts on our behalf.

It has also been a positive year in terms of the growth of the club. With 26 teams during the season, HRFC are one of, if not the biggest club in the South East. This could not be achieved without everyone’s support, but especially those on the executive committee. I thank you all.

Whilst we have justifiably had a lot to be proud of, the area that has disappointed me the most is the amount of disciplinary charges levelled at players, coaches, managers and parents this season. It has reached an unprecedented level this year, and has led the FA to withdraw our Charter Development Club status. This is a truly sad state of affairs, and has undermined the massive effort required to achieve Charter Club standard. This is especially disappointing for Cliff Baxter, the Club Development Officer, as he was the prime individual responsible for developing the policies and procedures required to achieve this award.

As a club, we have to put an immediate end to this trend, and the executive and I have introduced the following changes for the 2008/09 season. From this point on, all players, coaches, managers and parents will be required to sign the relevant code of conduct document, which can be found on each team's page on the website, as part of the registration process for each team. Failure to sign the form will result in the registration of an individual player being delayed or terminated. Coaches, managers and parents will also need to commit to adhering to the code of conduct, or they also will be prevented from coaching, managing or watching the games next season.

If there is a breach of the code, individuals can expect to have a temporary or even permanent expulsion from this club. People, it is that serious!!

On a lighter note, HRFC have been asked by the John Fisher Sports and Social Club (JFSSC) executive to take a leading role in the development of the whole club/site. Whilst HRFC is one third of JFSSC (along with John Fisher Cricket and John Fisher Football), we will now be responsible for the development of the clubhouse and have agreed to increase our contribution each year towards improvements to the playing areas. This will form part of a 3-year plan for pitch improvements, and will, eventually prevent the number of occasions the matches are called off due to being waterlogged. It will however necessitate an increase to our annual registration costs to £135 next season. All future fund raising activity will now go towards improving the clubhouse, so volunteers with bright ideas are urgently needed.

Once again, thank you all for your contributions this season, and I look forward to seeing you on the presentation evening(s).

Kevin Henry
Chairman