FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE NORTH WEST COUNTIES FOOTBALL LEAGUE & LIVERPOOL COUNTY FA
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
ONWARDS & UPWARDS SEASON 2018 - 2019 HALLMARK SECURITY FIRST DIVISION NORTH Tuesday 5/2/19 - KO 7:45pm
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAWN MARSHALL
ASHTON TOWN AFC V ST HELENS TOWN AFC
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PRICE - £1.50
ASHTON TOWN AFC The Ashton Town Stadium, Edge Green Street, Ashton in Makerfield, Wigan, WN4 8SL
President - Jimmy Cahill Chairman - Mark Hayes Vice President - Stephen Barrett Secretary - Stefan Ochwat Clubhouse Manager - Clare Peters Committee Member - Peter Williams Committee Member - Keith Peacock Committee Member - Kieran Johnson Committee Member - Nikki Dean Committee Member - Joanne Round Committee Member - Joanne Bourne Catering - Denise Brady Advertising & Programme Editor - Ian Pomfrett All Advertising enquiries - i.pomfrett@yahoo.com Welfare Officer - Gordon Johnson Groundsmen - David Bourne, Jimmy Cahill www.pitchero.com/clubs/ashtontownafc www.facebook.com/ashtontownafc twitter - @ashtontownafc Life Member - Billy Pomfrett Club Photographer - Dawn Marshall
This Club is Unincorporated PHOTO BY JOHN MCKIERNAN
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WELCOME TO OUR CLUB Good evening, and welcome to all to this North West Counties First Division North game against St Helens Town. Fingers crossed the weather has been kind and that we are playing this game when due, and for me I am obviously extra keen to get this on due to me now having a boozer in St Helens, and it literally being on the doorstep of Ruskin. I will always have banter in football, I have been a Wigan fan all my life so I know how to take it ha ha, but credit to Dave Dempsey and his backroom team I can honestly stand with confidence now at every game knowing we will compete. It didnâ€&#x;t start off so easy, we got tonked 5-0 on the opening day of the season, but from that we have learnt and put together one hell of a squad. The media hype that has followed us since signing Pascal has been nothing short of phenomenal, what is equally pleasing though is some our other players shining in that spotlight. Luke Edwards and Daley Woods (pictured) were exceptional against Bacup, and rightly so took some of the headlines. Thank you so much as always for your support through the turnstiles, and if this is your first game here due to Pascal, then welcome, and hereâ€&#x;s hoping it wont be your last. Onwards and upwards as always Mark Club Chairman 3
@northernpromise
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A FEW WORDS FROM THE MANAGER
Set up in August 2012 and based at The Ashton Town Football Club, the Radio Club was formed with a view to promoting the fascinating world of Amateur Radio to the wider community. The club is open for training and is also an Examination Centre, as you will need a licence to transmit on the Amateur Radio Frequencies. As of now our club can boast contacts in the following countries as well as many others: USA, Brazil, the Azores, Falkland Islands and Tasmania.
For more information please visit: Website: www.aimarc.co.uk Or contact us on: Email: mx0htr@gmail.com
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HALF TIME QUIZ QUESTIONS
Non league Football Grounds 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who Who
plays at New Lodge? plays at New Bucks Head? plays at Edgar Street? plays at the Crabble Athletic Ground plays at plays at Longmead Stadium? plays at plays at Rookery Hill? plays at Bridge Avenue? plays at The International Stadium? plays at Stonebridge Road? plays at Moatside? plays at Kingfield Stadium? plays at Hartsdown Park? plays at Bulpit Lane? plays at the Racecourse Ground? plays at Champion Hill? plays at Blackwell Meadows? plays at Hayes Lane? plays at Melbourne Stadium? plays at Moor Lane? plays at Longmead Stadium? 6
By Gordon Johnson
FIXTURES & FORM
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1ST DIV NORTH FIXTURES
HALF TIME QUIZ ANSWERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 9
By Gordon Johnson
Billericay Town AFC Telford United Hereford Dover Athletic Tonbridge Wells East Thurrock United AFC Hornchurch Gateshead Ebbsfleet United Merstham Woking Margate Hungerford Town Wrexham Dulwich Hamlet Darlington Bromley Chelmsford City Salford City Tonbridge Angels
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SPONSORS FEBRUARY 2019
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SAFEGUARDING - S Ashton Town Club Welfare Officer Gordon Johnson has, since September 2018, been working in conjunction with Save Association in an attempt to improve Safeguarding of children involved in grass roots football across the Liverpool County FA area. Save Association („Safeguarding And Victim Engagement‟) was formed off the back of the revelations that came to light in November 2016 when arguably a tsunami of men came forwards and disclosed that they had been sexually abused as children by their football coaches or whilst at a football setting. SAVE‟s founding members are Ian Ackley, Derek Bell, Paul Stewart David White who first came together at Wembley in late 2016 having been individually invited by The FA to discuss matters. It quickly became apparent that each of us recognised that we could do little to change the past but might be in a position to effect positive change regarding safeguarding. We knew we wanted to be a part of the solution not part of the problem. Only by raising our own funds and the generosity of the general public have we been able to go on this journey. We have used these funds to train ourselves and 18 other victims/ family members of victims in safeguarding and developed our own CPD (Continuing Professional Development) accredited courses for the market place. These unique safeguarding courses are not only CPD accredited which means they can be used and recognised in any setting but they are also co delivered by a person with a lived experience of abuse offering unique insights. Further to this, these courses require all delegates to undertake a knowledge test at the end of the course offering a rarely seen pass/fail element to the course. This in turn gives us the opportunity to gather information about what people retain and take back to their club/setting. This data has never been collected before and again will give us an insight into what people do and don‟t know when undertaking safeguarding duties at your childs sports club. At Save Association we also believe that every child in grass roots sports deserves the same level of protection and safeguarding as those children in elite sports and there should be no difference in the standards and expectations between settings or clubs. We believe the child‟s welfare is paramount and that there is a need to place the rights of children before those of our own in order to maximise EVERY child‟s potential overall health and wellbeing .To this end we have undertaken a project which serves to do just that. 12
By Gordon
SAVE ASSOCIATION Save Association‟s „Excellence in Safeguarding‟ initiative. The initiative does not just take the form of an audit and „state of the nation‟ report, as those already, quite rightly, exist and come under the jurisdiction of the relevant governing bodies. The initiative seeks to work alongside clubs to achieve full compliance with The Ten Standards of Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sport as set out by the Child Protection in Sport Unit. These key standards are what clubs are audited to but for us at „SAVE‟ serve as the benchmark to start from. Compliance is not our aim. We strive to reach beyond compliance ensuring that the most robust strategies are in place so we can, together, create the safest environments for children to develop in and reduce the opportunities for those with an unhealthy appetite for children to access them. Once standards are met we will stay with clubs on an ongoing basis to assure that compliance and indeed „excellence‟ is maintained. One key aspect of this initiative is that it includes and requires significant and ongoing input from parents/carers and the very children and adults at risk who play the sports. Without knowing what every stakeholder‟s experiences are we cannot start to understand how to improve. It is essential that we educate and inform parents/carers what standards they should expect and what is not acceptable. We need to give those people a clear route to raise a concern or make a complaint. Equally a club needs to be open to be challenged. Through this „bottom up‟ approach we will create a „pinch effect‟ where by clubs will need to drive safeguarding standards higher to meet the expectations of the service users, the children/adults at risk and their parents/carers.
n Johnson
To this end SAVE have been working closely with county FA‟s, grass roots leagues and clubs across all sports and across the length and breadth of the country and hope to be rolling out a pilot of our initiative imminently. If you would like to know more about what we do you can find us on social media www.facebook.com/saveassociation www.twitter.com/saveassociation www.saveassociation.com For details on either of the above initiatives specifically please contact us at ian@saveassociation.com or david@saveassociation.com 13
WELCOME TO EDGE GREEN STREET PASCAL CHIMBONDA This afternoon, again, we welcome back to Edge Green Street our latest but probably most historic signing, former Wigan Athletic and French World Cup International squad player from 2006, Pascal Chimbonda. After weeks of negotiations leading up to and into the January transfer window, club Chairman Mark Hayes has managed to pull off an historic coup and secure the signing of Pascal on an initial short term deal. Pascal Chimbonda is no stranger to Edge Green Street having appeared as a member of the Latics Legends team that beat Manchester City Legends in a drawn game that was decided by kicks from the penalty mark for the annual Joseph‟s Goal Charity football game in May 2018. Since making the first connection ahead of last year‟s charity game our Chairman has negotiated the deal which today sees Pascal go straight into the match day squad to face our visitors from Bacup Borough. Speaking on the day of Pascal signing for the club, manager Dave Dempsey said, “We are all extremely excited to have Pascal join our group, and we are sure he will give the players and club a like a sense of excitement in the coming weeks. We can only thank our chairman for getting this one over the door for us.” On the same day that Chimbonda‟s former Tottenham Hotspur team mate of 2007, Kevin Prince Boateng joined Barcelona and former Chelsea and England international Ashley Cole joined Derby County the headlines were shared and arguably stolen by Pascal‟s signing for Ashton Town of the North West Counties Division One North. Speaking about his historic transfer coup club chairman Mark Hayes said, “Pascal‟s signing comes at a perfect time as our squad is just settling after getting used to North West Counties football again following our one season in the Cheshire League. It is a huge boost for the club, and one that I hope Wigan Athletic fans will come and support.” Welcome to Ashton Town Pascal we hope that you enjoy your time with our club and that it is both an enjoyable and prosperous one, however long it may be for. 14
By Gordon Johnson
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WHO'S PLAYED AT Paul Josef Herbert Scharner was born on 11th March 1980 and is a retired Austrian footballer. He operated mainly as a defender, although he could play almost every midfield position as well. He was known for his great flexibility and, of course, his outrageous haircuts. Born in Scheibbs, Scharner grew up in Purgstallan der Erlauf, where he also started his playing career with local site SVG Purgstall at the age of seven, playing for the club's U-8 team. He stayed with the club until 1993, when he transferred to FCN St. Pölten, which he left in 1996 for Austria Wien, the club where he would receive his first professional contract in 1999. He played for their U-17 and U-18 and later for the club's amateurs, while also getting vocational education in the field of electrical engineering. After rising through the youth ranks of the club and playing for the U-17, U-18 and amateur squads, he made his debut for the first team as a substitute on the third of March in 1998 in a friendly match against Hellas Kagran, which Austria Wien won 5-1. Before receiving his first professional contract with the club, in May 1999, Scharner took part in two friendly matches both in February 1999, before making his debut in the Austrian Bundesliga on the 24th of April in a home game against SV Ried, which the Austria Wien won 3-0. In May, he took part in three games for the remainder of the season, playing against Salzburg, GAK and Innsbruck, respectively. The latter also marked his first time in the starting line-up and coincided with him receiving his first yellow card. Similar to the last season, Scharner played the first team only in friendly matches at the beginning, before returning to the Bundesliga in the eleventh round on 11 September against GAK as a substitute, in mid October against SW Bregenz as a time stoppage and in late November against LASK Linz. In total he made twelve appearances in the league, nine of which as a starter, while receiving three yellow cards. He made his ÖFB-Cup debut in the second round in late October against SV Würmla and returned for four other matches, while being crucial for the loss against SV Salzburg by receiving a second yellow card in the 23rd minute of play. He scored his first two goals for the Austria in a friendly match against Wiener Neudorf in February. Following a reasonably successful carreer in Austria Scharner joined Wigan Athletic for the second half of the 2005/2006 season. In his first match for Wigan, Scharner scored the winning goal against Arsenal in the League Cup at the JJB Stadium. He went on to start in the final for Wigan that season, unfortunately a 4–0 defeat to Manchester United. He scored his first Premier League goal in a one all draw against Everton and cemented his place in the Wigan side scoring a total of three goals while also receiving five yellow cards. The 2007/2008 season saw Wigan battling relegation once again. Again, Paul Scharner was a vital part of the team, starting in almost every game of the season, while scoring four goals and receiving six yellow cards. He scored his first goal of the season against West Ham United. He helped his team with a goal in the third round of the FA Cup against Sunderland but Wigan lost to Chelsea in the next round. Wigan finished the season in 13th place, having earned 40 points, while Scharner was voted Wigan's player of the year. Aside from reaching the third round in the FA Cup and the fourth in the League Cup, Scharner made a total of 27 league games the following season, scoring no goals while receiving three yellow cards and lifting Wigan Athletic to a solid eleventh place, having earned 45 points. On 22 March 2009, he became the first Wigan player to play 100 Premier League games in a 1–0 win at home to Hull City. In his final season for Wigan, he played in all 38 league games, scoring four goals while receiving six yellow cards. Wigan lost to Blackpool in the second round of the League Cup and to Notts County in the fourth round of the FA Cup. On 30 August 2009, he scored his first goal of the season against Everton. After a 5–0 defeat to Manchester United, Wigan manager Roberto Martínez preferred to use Scharner in an attacking midfield role. Scharner was a part of the team in November 2009 that suffered a historical 9–1 loss at the hands of Tottenham, scoring Wigan's only goal in that fixture. On 19 April 2010, he announced his decision to leave Wigan Athletic at the end of the 2009–10 season. 16
By Gordon
T EDGE GREEN ST? On 30 August, Scharner joined newly promoted Premier League side West Bromwich Albion on a two-year deal, having been a free agent since his release by Wigan. Teammate James Morrison has since praised his performances, saying that although Scharner is "a weirdo", has made a positive impact on the team. He made the switch to West Brom with the intent of no longer playing in central defence when manager Roberto Di Matteo told him he will be used as a midfielder. After his league debut in a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round, West Brom went on a five-game unbeaten run, including a win against Arsenal and a draw against Manchester United. The next season, his final year in the Premier League, he played 29 games for West Brom, mostly as a starter, scoring three goals, while receiving six yellow cards. His team reached the third round in the League Cup before losing to Everton and West Brom earned 47 points again in the league, finishing the season in tenth place. After not meeting a clause in his contract that would trigger a twelve-month extension, Scharner announced on 8 May that he would be leaving West Brom in the summer and search for a new challenge. After his contract with West Bromwich Albion ended, Scharner was linked to Eintracht Frankfurt but after a week of training there, Scharner was not signed by Frankfurt and instead moved to Bundesliga veteran club Hamburger SV, where he signed a two-year contract. When talking to coach Thorsten Fink for the first time prior to signing his contract, he prepared a list of ten questions he wanted to ask his new coach, a fact that surprised and impressed Fink. After four senior league appearances in the 2012-13 season with Hamburg, Scharner was signed on loan by former club Wigan Athletic, on transfer deadline day. He helped the club to reach the FA Cup final after they beat Millwall FC 2 -0 at Wembley. Scharner said it was his "best moment in football". On 11 May 2013 Scharner won the FA Cup with Wigan, playing the whole game in a 1-0 upset win against Manchester City. However, only 3 days later, Wigan were relegated from the Premier League following a 4-1 defeat against Arsenal. On the International front, Scharner started playing for Austria at the under-21 level, debuting against Spain in 2000. He played a total of twelve matches on that level, scoring no goals.Scharner debuted for the Austrian national football team in a nil nil draw against Cameroon on 17 April 2002.He played in the qualification rounds for the 2006 FIFA World Cup but Austria failed to qualify. Scharner retired in August 2006 after a 2-1 defeat to Hungary, criticising "unprofessional structures" within the ÖFB. Coach Josef Hickersberger banned him from the team and stated that he will never play for Austria as long as he manages it. Scharner did try to make a comeback in 2008, when Austria co-hosted the 2008 UEFA European Championship, but Hickersberger remained hard, not picking him. After Hickersberger was replaced, his successor Karel Brückner started nominating him again after the tournament and he was even promoted to team captain from 2009 to 2010. After then-coach Dietmar Constantini was fired, he applied to become player-coach but this application was rejected by the Austrian Football Federation. In August 2012 he was banned from the team permanently after leaving the team hotel when Coach Marcel Koller refused to give him a leading role in the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. The chairmanship of the ÖFB has stated that he will never play for Austria again, no matter who coaches it. He played a total of 40 matches, scoring no goals. Paul Scharner is married to Marlene and has three sons: Constantin, Benedict and Paul Jr. Paul Scharner is a familiar face here at Edge Green Street having first appeared in the Joseph‟s Goal Latics legends XI against Hollyoaks in 2015, then twice against the Dutch Legends led by Aarjan De Zeeuw in 2016 and 2017 and finally in the Latics legends game versus Manchester City Legends to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Latics famous FA Cup victory against City at Wembley in 2013, a game in which Scharner played for Wigan. Arrangements for a Latics Legends team to face a Manchester United Legends team here at Edge Green Street in May 2019 are well underway and hopefully Paul Scharner will once again be returning to take part in the game.
n Johnson
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LEAGUE TABLE 1ST DIV NORTH
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HISTORY OF ASHTON TOWN AFC Ashton Town Association Football Club originally joined the Div 2 of the Lancashire Combination in 1903 and were promoted Div 1 in 1st season. However, relegated back to Div 2 after finishing 16 in first season of Div 1. Towards the end of 1910/11 season club withdrew from league and fixtures taken over by Tyldesley Albion. The Club was reformed in 1953 as Makerfield Mill FC and after a short spell in the Wigan Sunday School League, they played in the St Helens Combination League for three years before joining the Warrington and District Amateur League in 1958. The founder was a persistant man named Derek „Mick‟ Mycock. In 1962 the Club was forced to move from its original ground at Windsor Road because of land development and it was at this point the Club name was changed to Ashton Town AFC. Home games were played on a public park pitch at Whithill Street Recreation Ground in Bryn until 1964, at which point the Club purchased a piece of land at Edge Green Street, previously the home of Stubshaw Cross Rovers. This became the Club`s new home, and development of the ground began. In 1969 the Clubhouse was completed, and was opened by Liverpool and England star Roger Hunt, and in 1975 the present dressing room facilities were built. During this period the Club joined the Lancashire Combination in 1971, and then in 1978, they left to join the Cheshire County League for four years. The formation of the North West Counties Football League 1982 saw Ashton Town join as founder members, and the Club has remained in the league since then with the exception of season 1985-86, when they played in the Manchester League while essential ground maintenance work was carried out to bring the ground up to stringent ground grading requirements for the NWCF League. Throughout the years there have been many custodians of the club, owned by no-one, powered by volunteers. I‟ll surely miss out a host of names here but….Notable is the involvement of Jack Longstaffe, Pat Dooney, Barry & Sandra Longstaffe, Gordon Ellis,, Les Bailey, Len Riley, Malcolm Magrath, Billy Pomfrett and Jimmy Cahill. The latter two who have clocked up over a hundred years service to Town and are still here on a daily basis. In more recent times, Clare and James Horner made a massive boost to the club with the long overdue formation of a Junior section. As did the arrival of our current Chairman, Mark Hayes, who has helped build the profile of the club both locally and nationally. Other volunteers to mention are Steve, Stefan, Denise, Peter, Clare and more recently, Keith (Kitman/Physio) whose dedication and workrate is second to none on quite often a day to day basis. It would go amiss if I didn‟t mention at this point Brian Cunliffe, who has on and off, over the years worked behind the scenes painting, digging or mending often without the right resources for the job…..it‟s people like this who really make a place what it is. So Many to mention, others to forget, but we are here and that wouldn‟t exist if it weren‟t for those who give up their time and effort to keep the club alive. Our motto „Onwards & Upwards‟ sums us up as we now strive for promotion. 20
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HISTORY OF ST HELENS TOWN AFC The original St. Helens Town club was formed in 1901 and played at Park Road, behind the Primrose Vaults public house. Although it was known as the Primrose Ground, the players changed further down Park Road at the Black Horse pub. Playing in the Lancashire League and Lancashire Combination, the team enjoyed some early success, but struggled after the Great War and appears to have folded midway through the 1928/29 season. The club was re-formed by George Fryer and a group of local businessmen in 1946. They took out a lease of the former cricket ground at Hoghton Road, Sutton, adjacent to the St. Helens Junction railway station and, although it entered in the FA Cup in the 1946/47 season, a team could not be raised in time to fulfil its tie with Prescot Cables. Friendly games were played, then local team Derbyshire Hill Rovers were taken over in April 1947, those players forming the nucleus of the team which entered the Liverpool County Combination at the start of the 1947/48 season. St. Helens Town soon began to prosper and early results included a sensational 10-4 win over Everton “A” on 6th December 1947. Former German prisoner-of-war Bert Trautmann joined the club in the Summer of 1948, the strapping goalkeeper helping the team to win its first trophy, the George Mahon Cup, which was secured with a 2-1 win over Runcorn at Prescot on 7th May 1949. Crowds averaged over 2000 that season, peaking with a league record attendance of 3012 against Burscough in October 1948. The following season, 1949/50, Town entered the Lancashire Combination and, despite losing Trautmann to Manchester City in October 1949, they won the Second Division title in some style the following season, three players, Albert Leadbetter (36), Harry McCann (32) and Terry Garner (31) all netting over 30 goals apiece. An all-time club record attendance of “between 8000 and 9000” witnessed a friendly game against Manchester City, arranged as part of the Trautmann transfer deal, in April 1950 and another 4000 witnessed a second match with City the following season. Although relegated by a slender margin from the First Division in 1951/52, the club continued to look forward, even contemplating Football League status and, in order to further its ambitions, moved to the former St. Helens Recs. rugby league ground at City Road. Initial crowds were encouraging but, despite success, the club decided to move back to Hoghton Road in October 1953, where they remained until April 2000. Town produced a number of fine players who joined Football League clubs, including Bill Foulkes (Manchester United), John Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday) and John Connelly who joined Burnley, later transferring to Manchester United and who played in the England 1966 World Cup winning squad. More recently, Dave Bamber scored goals in all four divisions of the league with a host of different clubs, starting and ending his league career at Blackpool and in the last few years, Karl Ledsham, who had a productive career at conference level with Southport, Lincoln City, Barrow and Stockport County before moving to the USA. Following a second relegation in 1956, St. Helens Town continued to play in the Lancashire Combination, winning the Championship in 1971/72, by nine points ahead of Accrington Stanley. However, the formation of the Northern Premier League in 1968 led to a gradual drain of stronger clubs from the Combination and St. Helens joined the Cheshire League in 1975, becoming founder members of the North West Counties League seven years later. They held the proud record of being the only club to play in the NW Counties‟ top flight every season until they were relegated in April 2015, conceding an injury-time equaliser to Silsden in the last game of the season, a match they had to win to stay up. Town enjoyed a golden era in the late 1980s, just missing out on an appearance in the First Round proper of the FA Cup in 1985/86, losing to Morecambe in a Fourth Qualifying Round Replay, but they obtained ample compensation by winning the FA Vase at Wembley in 1987, beating near neighbours Warrington Town 3-2, with two goals from Phil Layhe and one from Brian Rigby........Shortened to fit on page 21
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OUR CHOSEN CHARITY The Joseph’s Goal charity was set up in October 2012, by Paul and Emma Kendrick, to raise funds for research into NKH, (Nonketotic Hyperglycinemia), the life-limiting genetic condition that their son, Joseph, was born with. NKH is caused by an excess of glycine on the brain. Joseph was given five days to live but reached his ninth birthday in May this year. He is severely disabled and suffers from seizures. But he is resilient and is a fighter, and we, in turn, are fighting to find better treatments and, hopefully, a cure for NKH, which is very rare, with only fifteen children still surviving in the UK, and less than five hundred worldwide. Joseph’s Goal is a Wigan-based charity, run by a small group of family and friends, who all volunteer their services. No-one is paid. We have received support from Wigan Council, Wigan Warriors and Wigan Athletic, as well as schools, local organisations and the business community. In four years we have raised over £340,000, largely from charity balls, football matches, bike rides, marathons and 10-Ks, swimathons, spinathons, Xmas jumper days, numerous other fundraising events, and hundreds of donations from generous people. The funds raised have been sent to Dr Johan Van Hove at Colorado University, Denver, USA, and Professor Nick Greene at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in London. Both have presented their research findings to NKH families at conferences in the North West organised by Joseph‟s Goal, and trustees of Joseph‟s Goal have twice attended NKH conferences at Harvard University in Boston, USA. The many varied defective genes that have been found in different children/families in the brain that causes NKH have been identified, and the task now is to find a route to replace it with a healthy gene. There is, at last, some light at the end of a very dark tunnel, with real grounds for optimism that better treatments for NKH are not far away. Since Joseph‟s Goal began, Joe has become a little celebrity locally: - in 2013, he was the mascot for Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup Final and was carried out onto the pitch at Wembley by the captain, Emmerson Boyce, which resulted in television appearances on BBC NW, Granada, and Sky News; - in 2013, Joseph‟s family were the WISHFM „Local Heroes Family of the Year‟; - in 2014, Joseph switched on the Xmas Lights in Wigan Town Centre; - in 2014, Joseph‟s Goal was recognised by Wigan Council as contributing to the „Believe in Wigan” campaign; - and in 2016, Joseph‟s Goal was a Finalist in the GM Chamber of Commerce Wigan Business Awards. If you are looking for a charity to support, then please consider our charity, and help Joseph to achieve his Goal. 22
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JOHN COURTNEY JACK BROMILOW ANTHONY POTTS ANTHONY SHINKS LUKE EDWARDS JON EDGERTON CHRIS HILL PASCAL CHIMBONDA CHARLIE DUKE BRADLEY SMART DALEY WOODS DYLAN GLASS JAMES SIGSWORTH JACK RICHARDS MATHEW JOHNSON ALEX NOONAN Manager: David Dempsey Asst. Mgr & Coach: Lee Bignell Coach: Michael Smith Coach: Lee Thompson Physio: Keith Peacock Colours: Red & White Shirts, Red Shorts, Red Socks GK: Purple
CARL WILLIAMS ANDREW PRESHO PAUL CLIFF DOMINIC WHELAN ANDREW WEBSTER MICHAEL FURLONG MATTHEW SMITH CHRISTY DEVLIN LIAM DIGGLE DANIEL GREENE NEIL WEAVER ALEX MOFFITT ALEX HOPE Oâ€&#x;CONNOR SCOTT LAWRENCE LIAM RILEY JESSE ROBINSON MANAGER: LEE JENKINSON ASSISTANT: NICK ROBINSON
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COLOURS: BLUE SHIRTS, BLUE SHORTS, BLUE SOCKS GK: YELLOW OR GREEN
Referee: Steve Holden, Assistant 1: Ali Rahjoo, Assistant 2: Joe Cunningham