Well rumours of our demise at the grand old age of 25 have been proven to be wide of the mark although I think we would all have to admit it has been a curate’s egg of a season thus far – as I said to Brian the other day “one of our famous transition years”….
The great news is that since we last spoke we have celebrated our 25th birthday with 125 of our mates at the Polish Club (and raised a lot of money both for the Club and for charity at the same time), the 3s have won the national Junior AFA Cup for the first time in the club’s history, the 1s got back into Cup winning ways with last week’s famous (if slightly fortuitous) victory against HAC in the senior Surrey/Kent Cup and we had all of 6 players represent the SAL in a recent League rep game (James Cranston, Arren Sutcliffe, Richard Parker, Michael Classen, Dan Barber and James Taylor).
From a league perspective the overall summary to date has been less good for the 1s and 2s, at least by their own lofty standards of the past 5 years but the 3s are still in with a shout of a famous Double and the 4s continue to show the promise and youthful verve they used to great effect to win the Club Day back in late November.
As we all know Brian has taken something of a step back in relation to the specific task of coaching the 1s but to be honest no-one would have noticed it given his continuing and unwavering support of all teams with his week in week out attendance at games and by all accounts he is enjoying that as much as ever.
The skippers now get into the sharp end of the season where availability is sometimes more than a little iffy but club stalwart Chris O’Connor continues to guide them all through the logistical maze with his years of experience as Club Secretary.
We should all do well to reflect on the fact that, despite the travails of this season, we continue to have probably the best facilities/pitches in the League, new players continue to appear at the club, all the teams – including the Vets – are in the top divisions they can be and, above all, we generally continue to have a laugh which is what it is all about in the end. We have a meeting planned with the captains before the end of the season to discuss next season and an AGM date set for Tuesday 15th July (where we can toast England’s stunning World cup success) so we are planning now for the new Nottsborough future and the next 25 years – and we want you to continue to be a part of the family.
Enjoy the last weeks of the season.
All the best
Jonty