CONTENTS CLUB OFFICIALS
Paul Marsh - Honorary President James Paviour - Chairman Warren O’Neill - Secretary Grace Harding - Treasurer
05 06 08 12 17
From The Board Simon Thomas Mike Sammut Our History Media View
18 20 22 28 29
Louis Robinson The Away End In Focus EOFL Results Quick Quiz
Rob Lilley - Media Manager
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Simon Thomas - Manager Louis Godwin-Green - Assistant Mgr Tom Harding - Coach Emily Mackler - Physiotherapist
HONOURS
SBC Premier Div 2 1968/69, 1969/70 SBC Division One 1964/75, 2000/01 SBC Walton Cup 1966/67, 1967/68 SBC Charity Cup 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993/94 SBC Division 3 1962/63 EOFL Premier Division 2017/18 EOFL Division 2 2015/16 EOFL Division 3 2014/15 EOFL Challenge Cup 2018/19 Anagrams Record Trophy 2017/18, 2018/2019
6
8 18
Official Club Photographer
Editor Rob Lilley Commercial Manager Leon Walton Photography Rob Lilley Submissions By James Paviour, Simon Thomas, Mike Sammut, Tom Kearney
FROM THE BOARD Welcome to everyone to our first home game of the season. In particular a warm welcome to the players, management and officials of Springfield FC. I am particularly excited by this season as our new management team, lead by Simon Thomas and ably assisted by Louis Godwin-Green and Tom Harding, have assembled a very young squad with huge potential. For many years the club has needed to rebuild and I feel we have done that brilliantly in the close season. It was a disappointing start after the 1-0 loss to Hutton last weekend, but I remain confident that the new players will adapt and give us all plenty of quality to watch this season. Hopefully covid is now in our rear view mirror and we can enjoy an uninterrupted season.
Last season we teamed up with MIND, the mental health charity and this season is no different. It is still a hot topic and mental health has never been as important as the pandemic has affected everyone in different ways and it great to have the support when it is needed. Lastly, I wanted to say a thank you to everyone involved in the club during close season and good luck to Simon and the team this afternoon.
James Paviour
Chairman
FROM THE BOSS “We didn’t get our own shots away to trouble the keeper” First of all I’d like to congratulate Hutton on their win on Saturday. We look forward to the return later this season. It was a close game, with very few chances for both sides but one mistake cost us and that is the difference. We have a number of new players which can sometimes take time to settle but I’m sure we will react the right way with the games we have coming up, none moreso than this Saturday at home to Springfield. I think we can take some positives from the game in that defensively we looked assured and limited them to very few chances over the 90 minutes, but at the same time, we didn’t get our own shots away and trouble their keeper. We lost Trenks after 5 minutes and losing someone like him so early wasn’t great as he brings experience, leadership and presence around the pitch. I am sure this had an impact but we still had good senior players on the pitch to continue that drive. As you would have seen before the game, we announced Mike Sammut as club captain. On Saturday he showed every bit of why we awarded him the role and his performances always gain the respect of his team mates. Mike was energetic, hard working and he covered so much ground. Vocally he was engaging which is everything we ask.
We did refresh the squad somewhat during the close season, bringing in some new faces. We brought in Lewis and John at the back as experienced defenders who have played at a higher level. We’ve also brought in some hungry young players who want to push on in football and we hope we can assist them with this. For the young lads, I believe Saturday was an eye opener. It’s a lot more physical so not quite the same as youth or under 23’s football, but I know as the season goes on they will improve with every game and I hope they flourish in to the players we believe they can be. Special well done to Alfie Whiteaker who I thought was superb and I was really pleased for him after the game. Needless to say we have to forget about the result and make sure that we put in the effort and performance that I know we are capable of against Springfield. We’ll look to kick our season off for sure.
Simon Thomas PAGE 7
Sponsored By
FROM THE CAPTAIN “We are so much better than that.....” It wasn’t the best of starts to a season, but Hutton is a notoriously difficult place to play as the pitch is quite narrow. It’s almost that by the time you have got used to it, you’ve only one half of the game left.
Now we look to this weekend and our opening home game of the season. I’d like to welcome Springfield and I hope that it is an enjoyable game.
Needless to say we didn’t do ourselves any favours and we are so much better than that performance. I’ve been made club captain and it is a great honour to accept, and one that I will perform to the best of my abilities. A lot of faith has been shown and I’ll continue to give 110% each and every game. Its been an interesting close season, with some good and bad results but I think everyone is more than aware that it is all about getting match fit in order to prepare for the season ahead. Hopefully we’ll have an uninterupted season this time round!
It will be another tough game but I expect us to react from last weekend. We need to step up the intensity and start playing to our strengths and move the ball which should come more naturally for us on a bigger pitch. If we work harder for each other we can thet the right result
Mike Sammut Sponsored By
PAGE 9
PLAYER SPONSORSHIPS
LOUIS ROBINSON SPONSORED BY:
LOUIS GODWIN-GREEN
JOHN NUTMAN
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
PAUL MARSH
SOUTHEND YMCA
PATRICK KEARNEY
CAMERON LEMAR
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
Basild McNaught BMC PLUMBING SERVICES
LEWIS PAYNE
MAX KENT
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
JOHN MBAMARAH
ALFIE WHITEAKER
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
PAGE 10
JAMES PAVIOUR
ELLIS SANDS
CARL READ
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
SPEC DEVELOPMENTS
NADEEM DANIEL
DAN TRENKEL
TOM KEARNEY
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
DANIEL DUNN
FRANK CRAIK
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
JOHN MARSLAND
HARRISON DAY
AARON BALDWIN
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PAUL MARSH
HARLEY KEE
JAY NASH
SPONSORED BY:
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TOM HARDING
PABLO PESSENDA
TOM HARDING
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
MIKE SAMMUT
EMILY MACKLER
SPONSORED BY:
SPONSORED BY:
ROWAN KIRWAN PAGE 11
C
atholic United has a long history of football in Southend-on-Sea,
PRESIDENTS 1959-65 Bishop George Beck 1965-78 Stan Groom 1978-96 Rev Fred Wall 1996-17 Tony Cotgrove 2017- Paul Marsh
CHAIRPERSON 1959-60 Joe Persighetti 1960-65 Stan Groom 1965-66 John Mudd 1966-81 Glen Foy 1981-83 Martin Britt 1983-85 Chris Sexton 1985-93 Tony Cotgrove 1993-97 Kevin Wall 1997-01 Keith Exley 2001-11 Paul Marsh 2011-18 Chris Knight 2018- James Paviour
Celtic kit to be on general sale.
originally known in the 1930’s as Southend Catholic & then later as Catholic Athletic.
Foy did not hear from Celtic for about two weeks, when out of the blue a parcel containing a brand new strip arrived, together with a letter wishing
Catholic United, as we now know it, was founded in 1959 during a meeting
Catholic United every success. The first time the kit was worn (below) was in
at Sacred Heart Church Hall. Joe Persigetti was elected the first Chairman
the prestigious 1968 Walton Cup final played at Roots Hall, where Catholic
& his nephew Tony Cotgrove later became club president in 1996. The
United beat Haden United 2-0 to claim the trophy for the second time in as
family tradition within the Club has remained throughout time.
many years. It was then decided in our gratitude to Celtic it would be written into the club’s constitution that our club colours would always be the world famous green & white hoops.
Originally the club played in white shirts and black shorts, but there was soon a desire to make the club more easily recognisable from other teams by its colours. Our chairman at the time, Glen Foy wrote a letter to the Celtic Football Club chairman, Bob Kelly, asking if we could buy a kit from them with an accompanying explanation for the reasons behind the request. Also in those days, the manufacturer Umbro would not allow the
CATHOLIC UNITED HISTORY The club played its early football at Nazareth House, which was then an orphanage. This was possibly the time when the teams were best supported as all the children would watch. Like Wellstead Gardens in its prime before the club were evicted in 2018, Nazareth House was regarded as one of the best pitches in the area & was unfortu nately lost to the building of St Helen’s primary school in the early 1970’s. Despite continuously moving between grounds, the club were ready to take the quality of football on offer to the next level. In 2009, the club was accepted to play in the prestigious Essex Olympian League (Step Five), & having worked up through the leagues, Catholic United were crowned Premier Division champions in 2018 at the first attempt. In recent years, prolonged cup runs have become a feature in the season calendar, with consecutive victories coming in the 2017/18 & 2018/19 Anagram Records Trophy - a competition devised of clubs from Essex, Hertfordshire & Middlesex at the equivalent level. Last sea-
BACK-TO-BACK WALTON CUP WINNERS
son, the Hoops competed in the FA Vase for the first time - beating Essex Senior League side Clacton FC 6-1 in the first qualifying round. At the start of the 2020/21 season, the club announced they will be working alongside MIND to help raise vital awareness for mental health.
2017/18 PREMIER DIVISION CHAMPIONS & ANAGRAMS RECORD TROPHY WINNERS
Top 10 All Time Appearances
All Time Manager Stats
All Time Competition Stats
2021-22 Season Lineups
Top 10 All Time Goalscorers
All Time Goalkeeper Stats
This may include outfield players who may have appeared in goal
MEDIA VIEW I’ve been involved in media management for over 15 years, starting my voluntary role in grassroots with Great Wakering Rovers.
The early season programmes won’t have as much content but as the season progresses, I’m hoping to pack it full to make it a really good read.
I met with the late & great Nobby Johnson over breakfast and he signed me up to bring the club online, designing its first mainstream website. I also assisted Nobby with the match day programme as he was cutting and sticking printed images and articles onto a page and photocopying it several times to produce a booklet. The process must have taken him hours, but such was his love of football and his beloved Rovers, he did this religeously. I produced the programme electronically and had it printed.
The social media platforms are growing nicely. The club already had Facebook and Twitter, although they appeared underutilised. Enhancing these social media platforms was key to improving the profile of the club online and bringing more exposure to what is already a successful local club.
In 2013/14 the programme was voted the best in the Ryman League Division One North and 17th overall within the National Non-League pyramid, something I am very proud of. I built the current Concord Rangers website and worked with Hullbridge Sports and Chelmsford City with various pieces of work. For Catholic United, there are some strange similarities with GW Rovers, in terms of organising the website and now the match day programme.
Twitter has seen followers increase by over 65% over the last 12 months, with a surprise increase in Celtic FC supporters now following the club. With our history, it is great to see Celtic supporters keeping an eye on our results! Our website is hosted by Pitchero and we’ve seen our site rise from a ranking of around 1200 nationally, to a recent ranking of 212 in the last few days. We hope to keep all of these upward curves going, well, upwards!!
Robe rt Lilley
Tom Kearney has done a wonderful job over the past few seasons with the programme and I’m hoping to continue his great work. Geoff Keane Carpet Specialist is an independent retailer specialising in all types of flooring. Having earned the reputation as one of the most successful flooring providers in the Southend-on-Sea area, visit our showroom to view an unbeatable selection of flooring that we are confident offers something for all tastes & budgets. Address: 213 Woodgrange Drive, Southend-On-Sea, SS1 2SG Telephone: 01702 613773
PAGE 17
ROBINSON “Really tough watching from the sidelines.....”
Defender Louis Robinson was injured at the end of last season and it has been a long road to recovery. What injury has kept you out all this time? I damaged my ankle ligaments at the eback of of last season which resulted in missing the last couple of games and all of pre-season. How did it go on Tuesday evening against Bowers U23? It was good to get back out there. I didn’t have any issues with the ankle specifically which was really positive. My achilles and calf were tight towards the end but that was expected. I felt fine the day after which is great news. Surely you need more game time before you can think about competing at first team level? Yes certainly. I’m not match fit but that’s to be expected after a long lay off. I’m competitive though, whether it is a friendly or a league game, so I’ll be ready whenever Simon sees fit. What have you been doing to get over the injury? To start with, pretty much nothing. Any form of exercise would only have made things worse, so it was just rest and to try and keep as much weight off it as possible. Over the last few weeks I’ve been able to start training individually with Emily, to strengthen the ankle. I was then introduced back into full training last week, enabling me to kick a football again and move myself in different directions.
What had it been like sitting on the sidelines to watch games? It has certainly been different as I’ve not missed a game through injury since I tore my knee ligaments when I was 16. Its been really tough and frustrating to say the least. The team are really looking like they’re starting to gel which is posirive and the new players that have come in have definitely brought some freshness that was needed. You were there for the opening game of the season against Hutton. How did you think the team performed? Clearly we underperformed hugely as a team. We didn’t play the football that we know we can which consequently resulted in us losing the game. We were missing quite a few players due to holidays and injury and with a few back this week, I think we’ll be in a better shape. We will certainly be looking to get a result against Springfield. Are you hoping to get some game time against Springfield or is it too soon? As long as the ankle feels ok, I’ll be with the reserves in order to get some much needed game time.
PAGE 19
FORMED 1935
GROUND
Springfield Hall Park
JOINED LEAGUE 1980 HONOURS
THE
AWAY END
1947/48 Mid Essex Div 2 League & Cup Winners 1948/49 Mid Essex League Div 1 Winners 1951/52 Mid Essex Premier Cup Winners 1952/53 Mid Essex Premier Cup Winners 1953/54 Mid Essex Premier Cup Winners 1956/57 Mid Essex Premier League Winners 1957/58 Mid Essex Premier League Winners 1958/59 Mid Essex Premier League Winners 1959/60 South Essex League Runners Up 1960/61 Burnham Charity Shield Winners 1979/80 Mid Essex League Winners 1980/81 Bill Spurgeon Cup Winners 1981/82 Essex Olympian League Cup Runners Up 1982/83 Essex Olympian League Senior Division Runners Up 1983/84 Essex Olympian League Challenge Cup Winners (shared) 1994/05 Essex Olympian League Div 3 Runners Up 1998/99 Burnham Charity Shield Winners 2004/05 Denny king Cup Runners Up 2010/11 Bill Spurgeon Cup Winners 2011/12 Essex Olympian League Div 2 Winners 2012/13 Essex Olympian League Senior Cup Runners Up 2013/14 Essex Olympian league Div 1 Runners Up 2015/16 Bill Spurgeon Cup Winners 2015/16 Anagram Records Trophy Runners Up 2016/17 Essex Olympian League Premier Division Winners
MANAGEMEMT TEAM Manager: Dan Williams Asst: Matt Hanning Coach: Mark Brook
HISTORY
Springfield Football Club has a long and proud history of providing football in the community. Founded in 1935, the club moved from its previous home at Pollards Meadow to a new, purpose built clubhouse and ground at Springfield Hall Park, in 2002.
The club continues to grow and is represented in the Essex Olympian League, The Essex Veterans League, The Chelmsford Sunday League, The Chelmsford Youth League, Blackwater & Dengie Youth League, Brentwood Community Football Alliance and the Essex County Girls Football League. The club provides football for ages from 6 years up to our Veterans Over 45’s and at all ages in between. We are especially proud to be an F.A. Charter Standard Club and are run entirely by volunteers.
SQUAD Russell Harley Tommy Storkey Joe Williams Lewis Chapman Alfie Haliday Ryan Batchford Callum Crown Rhys Williams James Shadwell Tarell Miller Michael Ioannu Jordan Sergent Morgan Mulenga Henry Lynch Jake Chaplin Jack Mundy Andy Elgar Nav Arrain Jack Gifford Adam Cole Tommy Hayes Charlie Nicholls Jake Clarke Joe Nathanson Harrison Elles Sam Coe Brendan Nickson Mitchell May Aiden Brown
PAST 5 MEETINGS
15.12.20 PREM - HOOPS 6-0 SPRINGFIELD 26.09.20 PREM - SPRINGFIELD 0-3 HOOPS 07.12.19 PREM - HOOPS 7-3 SPRINGFIELD 07.09.19 PREM - SPRINGFIELD 1-0 HOOPS 26.01.19 PREM - HOOPS 7-2 SPRINGFIELD
HEAD-2-HEAD TOTAL MATCHES
13
CUFC WINS
7
DRAWS
SFC WINS
CUFC GOALS
SFC GOALS
2
38
4
23
FACTS
PAGE 21
* Catholic Utd have won the last three matches * Springfield have conceded 7 against Catholic on two ocassions * There has only been one cup game between the sides since 2009, Catholic winning 2-1 away in the Senior Cup * Tom Hollingsworth remains top scorer against Springfield (5), followed by Aaron Baldwin (4)
IN
FOCUS Hutton 1-0 Catholic Utd - 14th August 2021
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EOFL PREMIER DIVISION OPENING WEEKEND
QUICK QUIZ Answers on back page
1. What links Paul Ince, Kevin Campbell and Steve Bruce (amongst a few others)?
2. How many different countries have won the World Cup? a. 6 b. 7 c. 8 3. Name the English club a. b.
c.
4. Who is the wealthiest? a. David Beckham b. Cristiano Ronaldo c. Lionel Messi 5. Who was the first Frenchman to score in the Premier League? 6. Which team moved from Ayrsome Park in 1995?
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