Another successful season for Lindfield Juniors FC

By Helen Jones

On 1st July, close to 1,000 parents, players and coaches gathered together on Lindfield Common for the Lindfield Juniors end of season barbecue. The event has become a key date for many Lindfield families whose children pass through the club each year. It’s a celebration of all that the children have achieved: the friends they’ve made, the goals they’ve scored, and the losses they’ve endured.

Since it was formed over 40 years ago, Lindfield Juniors has played a pivotal role in village life - for many families, it forms the cornerstone of their weekends from September to August. We are all used to seeing the sea of green and black on Hickmans Lane fields, on the Common and down the High Street on Saturday mornings as the club’s players make their way to training - whatever the time, whatever the weather. The club is one we can be proud of for so many reasons - not least for its popularity among local boys and girls. The growth of the club has been staggering and it continues to go from strength to strength.

Next season, there will be a total of 38 teams playing at Lindfield Juniors making it the club’s biggest year by far. Of those, 29 teams are boys and nine are girls. To put this in context, in 2009 there were just eight teams in total - meaning they’ll have more girls’ teams next season than they did at the club as a whole 14 years ago. In practice, this means that over 600 children will be signing up from September. The players start at age four and go all the way through to playing at Under 17 level - a testament to their loyalty and enjoyment at the club that they’re still playing at that age.

Many of the players started as soon as they were old enough to kick a ball. Club secretary Tony Robinson told us: “When my son was four, I used to take him to Soccer Tots in the King Edward Hall and he’d see a field full of boys and always asked ‘when can I play like the big kids?’. He started as soon as he was old enough, is now 16 and has been playing with the club for over 12 years.” Darren Hughes, who coaches the U15 boys has been with the same group since they were in reception class: “Out of the team of 17 we have now, I’ve been coaching 13 of them since they were four. The club and the team are a huge part of their lives and they’ve developed some strong friendships through playing together. I’ve seen them develop into great players and lovely young adults, it’s a real privilege.”

Since the club launched its first girls’ team in 2018 the sport has seen a massive increase in popularity for local girls. From September, there will be over 120 girls playing for the club across nine different teams - with many year groups having multiple teams. U12 Girls coach Glenn Watts said: “Coaching the girls is the highlight of my week. I was so pleased that my daughter wanted to play football and I love being involved in her team. The girls have built up an amazing team spirit and have made friends who I hope they’ll play with until they’re much older. They have such a positive attitude to the game and really believe in themselves as a team. The success of girls’ football at Lindfield is something we can all be proud of.”

If you’d like to know more about joining the club or sponsoring of a team at Lindfield Juniors, get in touch with Tony on secretarylindfieldjnrs@hotmail.com.

To read the full article please pick up a copy of August’s Lindfield Life today.

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2022/23 Highlights
• Lindfield Girls U9 won the Crawley & Maidenbower Summer Tournament
• Lindfield Thunder U9 were runners up in the Russel Martin Summer Tournament
• William Hartley, Lindfield Sharks U16 won the Golden Boot for U16 Div 2
• Lindfield Girls U12 were runners up in the County Cup final narrowly losing 1-2. These were our first County Cup finalists for 10+ years
• Lindfield Girls U12s won the Red Division of the Sussex County Women & Girls
• Lindfield Sharks U11 were runners up in the MSYFL Plate final
• Lindfield Storm U9 won the MSYFL Futsal tournament.
• Lindfield Spartans U11 were runners up of MSYFL Futsal tournament

The Lindfield Girls Under 16 team is welcoming new players 2023/24

With women’s football continuing to take the sporting world by storm, Lindfield is looking for to expand its own pride of budding Lionesses.

The Lindfield Girls Under 16 team is welcoming new players for the 2023/24 season. Girls starting Years 10 and 11 in September are eligible. The team plays on Sundays either on the Common or Hickmans Lane with training being planned for the next season on Thursdays at Handcross Park School. There are also occasional training sessions with professional players from Brighton and Lewes women which have been extremely popular.

The team was formed in 2018 when four Year 6 and 7 players turned up for the first training session! Since then, the club has attracted girls of all ages and now has teams from Under 9s through to the Under 16s team which is sponsored by Potential Personal Training and Haywards Heath Landscapes. The Lindfield girls are already making their mark on the local football scene with the Under 12s reaching the County Cup final this season.

“Our focus is to enable girls who start playing football in primary school to keep playing for Lindfield right through to leaving secondary school,” said coach Steve Harris. Off the field, the girls have enjoyed social events including barbeques, paddle boarding, pizza nights and, of course, trips to support Brighton & Hove Albion Women and the England team when they played at the Amex Stadium. “If you love football, have played a bit before and want to play with a lovely bunch of girls with lots of laughs, then come along for a kick around,” Steve added.

The club would be delighted to hear from all age groups. For more information, email: secretarylindfieldjnrs@ hotmail.com. For next season’s Under 16s, Steve can be contacted by phone on 07712 897309 or email: sah@harriskeane.com.

https://lindfieldjuniorsfc.co.uk/

Lindfield Football Club's Under 10: running daily for NHS Charities Together

Dylan Humphreys

By Kirsty Warren

It’s been a bizarre start to the football season so far with surprising wins from teams such as Brighton, who’ve defeated the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Great for local Brighton fans but not so much for those on the other side. The silver lining? At least they get to play the game.

Clubs like our own Lindfield FC Juniors have to press the pause button a while longer, but how, without schools open and active PE lessons, do they keep healthy? LFC Juniors’ very own Dylan Humphreys made an awe-inspiring decision back in January this year to run 2k every day until he goes back to school. He told me: “Initially, I wanted to run to help with my fitness as I can’t play football or run around with my friends at the moment. But then I had the idea of challenging myself to run every day and look to raise money for an important cause at the same time.”

So, on 17th January Dylan began to run around the Ardingly Showground every single day, and with the help of his mum Clare, he set up a Facebook donation page where his supporters could donate to NHS Charities Together – a group of more than 250 charitable organisations that supports all of the National Health Service.
The page is still active where you can donate and see all of Dylan’s run times, photos and messages. You can find it here: Dylan’s fundraiser for NHS Charities Together

Lindfield U10s head coach Dominic Roberjot said: “Dylan’s commitment to staying fit and healthy, as well as his incredible fundraising efforts, have truly captured the imagination of everyone involved at the club. At a time when many of us were struggling for motivation during lockdown, his efforts have inspired his coaches and teammates to use this time as an opportunity to stay fit and active.”

In response to all his support, Dylan wanted to inspire his teammates further, explaining: “I challenged my football friends to run every day for a week wearing something unusual. Running gear has included crazy wigs, masks, cricket gear, party hats, a beach theme and a dressing gown! It has been lots of fun!”

The original target amount Dylan wished to hit was a modest £200, which got smashed in just 24 hours! They immediately raised the goal, but the new targets were reached again and again. At the end of January it was raised to a whopping £1,000, but as of the 12th February, Dylan’s charity had received a total of £1,450.

Clare posted on the Facebook page: “Dylan has been overwhelmed by the level of support! Not only from the donors but also from the messages of support and the encouragement that he has received. He even gets recognition from people when they see him out running, now that word has got out about what he’s doing.” Clare also mentions, “His running has been really helping Dylan’s wellbeing and fitness. It’s having something to focus on doing every day whilst there’s not a lot else to do at the moment. Therefore, I hope those having a go at their own challenges get as much out of it as he is.”

Did you spot the Juniors’ unusual dress runs in February? Or have you seen Dylan dashing around the Ardingly Showground? If you’ve been inspired to start running, let Dylan and his family know by commenting on his support page, where you can also keep up with his progress. With all this exercising, the Juniors will be ready to play a great game of football when the club can finally reopen!

Find more fun photos inside the March issue of Lindfield Life.