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.
