Collingham Junior Football Club

Venue: Collingham F.C.

Introduction

Collingham is a large village close to Newark (5 miles) and the city of Lincoln (8 miles). It has excellent communication links as it is situated north of the A46 – A17 and A1 intersection and has regular train and bus services. The village has benefited from the road between Lincoln and Newark (A46) becoming a dual carriageway in 2004 but still suffers from large amounts of HGV traffic travelling through the centre along the A1133. It is also an affluent village with a good retail offering and thriving local businesses. These include a dentist, doctor’s surgery, newsagents, supermarket, hairdressers and two nursing homes.

A village plan led by the Parish Council (PC) has identified a desire for more retail space and (more importantly to Collingham Football Club - CFC) an enhancement of parking provision. This is currently lacking in the centre of the village and the land identified for this is at the back of the doctor’s surgery and is currently leased by CFC. The potential loss of this recreational green space will directly impact upon the junior section of the club as all of the 7-a-Side junior football teams use this pitch to compete in the Newark and District Junior Football League. The lease for this expires in 2008 and the PC has indicated that this lease is unlikely to be extended.


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CFC is the only football club in the village. It has two senior pitches, one 60 x 40 junior pitch and two areas used for coaching and general training. The main pitch adjacent to the clubhouse is floodlit and has a metal perimeter fence supported by advertising hoardings. This pitch is used by both the adult Collingham Sunday football teams who compete in the Newark Alliance League. The facilities are also hired by Newark Town FC who are a semi-professional outfit playing in the Central Midlands Football Alliance. As a result FA Vase and FA cup matches are played on the ground each season. This season CFC – to boost revenue streams and promote ladies football - have adopted Lincoln Ladies FC who play in the Women’s FA Premier Northern League. Furthermore, CFC has a skittles team that has its own alley adjacent to the clubhouse and hosts a number of regular activities like the bingo and the Buffaloes Association.

Proposed Station Road Redevelopment

CFC currently has two senior pitches and one mini soccer pitch. The pitches are served by a clubhouse with two changing rooms, associated showers and referees facilities. The clubhouse bar serves a good selection of beers, non alcoholic retail goods and has a pool table and darts board. The bar facility is supplemented by an upstairs lounge which has a well equipped if dated kitchen and good sized dance floor. This function room is hired out for a number of events and brings in much needed revenue to the club.

A recent audit by the Nottinghamshire FA with regard to Grant Aid for a facilities overhaul has stated that Station Road is at ‘critical mass’ with regard to the space allocated for pitches and amenities making expansion of the current playing membership very difficult. Therefore, the option of retreating from the lease agreement will be resisted unless suitable alternatives can be found.

The ‘Redevelopment project’ will update the current club facilities and provide new changing rooms for both the junior and females sections. The provision of a floodlit 60 x 40 Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) for training purposes is seen as imperative to the success and expansion of CFC juxtaposed with clever pitch management. A small scale pitch condition survey has recently been completed and it indicates that the pitches are well drained and in reasonable condition for the amount of use they get. Investing over £5,000 per annum on pitch maintenance has been fully justified and beneficial especially during the recent dry period (18 months). This is consistent with the cancellation of very few matches in the last three years. An increase in the annual maintenance budget/programme could improve the condition and carrying capacity a little but the cost of this is beyond immediately available resources. It is therefore proposed that the current annual maintenance programme will continue and a major programme will be considered as demand grows.

CFC has a large junior membership with 5 teams playing in the New Newark Youth Football League. It also has three feeder groups of players from Under 5’s to Under 7’s. Additionally, there is a girls section (and small ladies section) which it is hoped will develop into teams competing at all age levels especially now that CFC is home to Lincoln Ladies FC. CFC has two Sunday league teams that compete in the Newark Football Alliance. It also caters for veterans games (over 35’s) on a structured basis. The facilities at Station Road are also booked for Nottinghamshire Schools representative matches, Coca Cola sponsored tournament finals, and Junior League (Lincoln and Newark) representative matches.

Newark Town currently hire the facilities so that they can compete in the Central Midlands League. This is level 7 of the football pyramid and requires clubs to have fenced off playing areas and floodlightin capability. The club also annually holds two major charitable events; children in need and raisings funds for a local cancer hospice. CFC also hosts an annual JFC tournament of which some of the proceeds are donated to charities. To date CFC has contributed over £25,000 to worthwhile causes.

 

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