Catholic United FC Magazine - Issue 1 by CatholicUtd

SIMON THOMAS • BAPTIST • TRENKEL • BRIDGES • VEO CAMERA • FIXTURES PREVIEW

CATHOLIC UTD Official Catholic United FC Monthly Magazine

‘Bappo’ & ‘Trenks’ hang up their boots

S D N E EG

E R I T E R

No one should have to face a mental health issue alone.....

Whether you feel like you need support or are simply looking for ideas to improve your wellbeing - we can help you find what you’re looking for.

Official Charity Partner

www.secemind.org.uk

Just like Liverpool vs Barcelona in 2019, the editorial where you just don’t know what is going to happen

PAVS Just when you thought it was safe to pick up some reading material, club Chairman puts pen to paper

A SEASON UNDER THE BELT Simon Thomas provides a good insight into his first full season as a manager

8 12

BAPPO The Essex Bhoys stalwart left sider opens up about his decision to retire despite calls to continue.......

BURNING BRIDGES Ronnie Bridges finally nudges past Christopher Wall to top the Catholic United appearance charts

TRENKS

After a long career, plenty of trophies & medals in nonleague football, Trenkel has decided the time is right

PRESENTATION EVENING

The annual awards evening. Drinks, laughs, a few more drinks and of course, trophies. A great night........

Editor: Rob Lilley Assistant Editor: Andy Wilkins Writers: Rob Lilley, Andy Wilkins Design: Rob Lilley Contributors: James Paviour, Simon Thomas, Peter Dudley, Scott W Photography: Offside Photography © Catholic United Football Club. All rights reserved. No part of this

CONTENTS

A QUICK CORNER

publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright owners. Every effort has been made by the editors to ensure the accuracy of this publication; the editors cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions. In the interest of independance and impartiality, some features in this publication may have been written by third party contributors. Any opinions expressed therein are the views of the writers themselves and not necessarily those of Catholic United Football Club

The first pre-season friendly is approaching this weekend and I, for one, can’t wait to get my normal Saturday’s back. Simon has set up a very competitive pre-season, which will certainly get the squad battling in preparation for the season opener in August.

After the last few years, what a difference it was to actually play a full season!! What the pandemic showed us was that football, especially at our level, plays a huge part in our lives, and Saturday’s would never be the same without it. Personally, I could see my wife standing there with an actual written list of things for me to do around the house and it shook me to the bone.

Outside the club, I’m over the moon that Cameron Carter-Vickers has signed on permanently at Celtic. Now all that is required is for a nice friendly to be arranged and perhaps CCV to accept an invite to our end of season presentation evening. I feel I’ll need to send a letter a week just like Shawshank Redemption to get their library built!!! Where’s my pen........

Joking aside, this season proposes to be quite an interesting one for me. Not only will I continue taking match photo’s and updating the club website, but I’ll also be using the VEO2 match camera and creating a monthly magazine. However, I’m not alone, as I’ll be ably assisted by Andy Wilkins. Andy will help me with various media activities and is a wonderful addition to the team.

COYBIG Rob Lilley

Media Manager

All working behind the scenes, from the Chairman down, are volunteers. Without volunteers there would be no club. We’re working as hard as we can to ensure the club tries to be as self-sufficient as possible. It is this self-suffiency that will secure the future but we couldn’t do this without the support of supporters, be it in attendance or otherwise.

June Winners Robbie Revill - £100

John Flanders - £50

Louis Godwin-Green - £25 Email on how to support the club

secretary@catholicutd.co.uk

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A SEASON TO REMEMBER IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE Club Chairman James Paviour reflects on the club and the future....... Thank you for reading the first edition of our magazine, which has been expertly collated and produced by Rob Lilley. Thank you to everyone who has contributed content for this edition and to those who will in the future.

Simon Thomas and Tom Harding have rebuilt the team over the summer and it’s a new look side. I have watched some preseason games and I am feeling optimistic. Across the other teams within the club, our reserves and vets teams had really successful seasons last year; the reserves winning the essex cup and the vets winning their league. We are hopeful of more success from all or teams this season. Finally to everyone who has sponsored, donated, bought replica shirts - I am not sure if anyone else saw the cafe owner in Blackpool wearing a CUFC shirt talking about the rail strikes on ITV - please remember that our club is run by volunteers who have day jobs.

Where to start on the world; the world is a crazy place at the moment for a variety of reasons and often I reflect that we are lucky in so many ways but particularly to have football as an escape from the stresses of everyday life. Running a football club in these times is also challenging as I truly believe that COVID has changed peoples priorities and participation numbers are down on previous years.

Also we have no link with the people who manufacture and sell our kits. I know that sometimes we are slow to respond and there have been frustrations about slow delivery of kits etc but please be assured that we are enormously grateful for all of your support, you have changed our club and our lives. It makes me so proud.

At Catholic Utd we are so fortunate to have a strong heritage and successful teams on the pitch. Many of the readers of this publication will know all about the last 12 months for our club but the influx of support from our Celtic family has literally changed our club forever. This season we will be live streaming our games so that people can watch the first team play. If someone would have suggested that to previous Chairmen, I think they may have thought you were crazy! We are hopeful that the first team respond on the pitch to being on screens around the world with some good performances.

To those who have travelled to watch games, thank you and we hope to meet more people this year. All the best for the season and let’s hope Celtic and Catholic Utd have title winning campaigns.

vio James Pa

A Season Under The Belt

A full, uninterrupted season, a good cup run, player availability, bringing players through........the boss reflects on his first full season as a manager! What a season, my first full year in management. I have learned so much over the course of the season, between the highs and lows. I think we are a work in progress but If I look back I can comfortably say that I put too much pressure on myself to succeed and maybe expected more than what we got this season. We had some great performances on the pitch, and on the flipside, obviously some dissapointments. At the start of the season the goal was to be competitive, to remain competitive, and in around the top three. We fell short of that and I think we can put that down to a really poor start to the season where we picked up 7 points from a possible 21. That is not the start any team wants to make let alone me as a manager. I brought Tom Harding into my management team before the season started and I think that was one of the most important decisions I made. Tom had done great things with our reserve team and is a superb coach. We work well together on and off the pitch which is important and we both trust each other’s judgement, bouncing our ideas off each other.

We turned the corner as a team at the turn of the year. We were performing well and getting the results, losing once in nine games in the league and inflicting a defeat to Stanway Pegasus, which turned out to be their only defeat in all competitions last season. It showed just how good we could be on our day, we just needed to be more consistent over the season. With the high’s come the lows. Losing to Harold Wood at the start of December when they were rock bottom of the league was probably one of our worst performances. Then we were removed from the County Cup Final for playing an ineligible player despite two hearings at the FA, was hard to stomach. Finally losing to Canning Town FC in the quarter final of the league cup in the same week as the county cup removal was a kick in the teeth. So from being in two cups, in one fail swoop we found ourselves in March having nothing to play for except our pride.

What I would say has been a personal highlight is how the link/relationship between the first team and reserves and improved and become closer than ever. The integration between the sides was important and arguably one of the best things to have come out of last season in my eyes. It is a huge credit to the club and the people who have helped engineer the process. Our reserve team manager Eamonn Kearney plus Tom Harding and myself, and the guidance of our chairman James Paviour, we pulled the teams closer and it proved to be hugely advantageous. With the reserves gaining promotion last season, we are now at a point where there is only 2 divisions dividing the teams and the competitive levels mean the transition from reserve to first team is that much closer. Every player in the reserves has seen the opportunities of stepping up and testing themselves in the Olympian premier division, and first team players having to drop down due to injury or match fitness are being involved in very competitive matches. So as I look ahead to this new season, what are my priorities? Where do I start. Firstly we have to continue our development as a club off the pitch, continuing our good work between the reserves and the first team. On the pitch we need to replicate the success of our reserves by grinding out results to pick up some silverware. Tom and I need to be at our best with our recruitment, to bring some new faces and talent and also organising and making sure we have players ready and motivated for each and every game we play. No excuses. One of the biggest things we faced last season was availability and squad numbers on the day. There were a few occasions where we struggled to get 11 players. Not only does that affect the morale of just those able to play but the whole squad is impacted. If we are to be successful, we need to see that availability improve. I’m certain that the experience gained will enable us to push further in the new season. We’ve got to aim high, so we’ve got to push for a league win or automatic promotion and a good run in the cups.

Simon Thomas

Official Media Partner

YOU KNOW WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT Former CUFC manager Dan Trenkel decides that the time is right to hang up his boots......

You appear to have been relatively injury free for a lot of your career, if you wanted to continue, even at a lower level, would your body allow it? I believe that’s the perfect reason to stop. I’m relatively healthy and I want to enjoy my life not with a permanent injury that hampers me. I may play the odd vets game but genuinely I’ve seen some vets game and they look like testimonial matches at walking pace so I think I’ll be fine to get through 90 minutes with a few mates. I’d love to play with my mate John Flanders before we both can’t do anything anymore. Before Catholic United, you played for a host of clubs. Who have you played for? I spent a lot of time at Great Wakering Rovers and am proud to have played over 400 times there. I had a stint at Chelmsford City, Burnham Ramblers, Redbridge, Concord Rangers and Bowers & Pitsea. Who has been the best manager you have played under? I am going to get splinters here. Honestly, I have been a manager and every manager has great positives and also flaws. It’s impossible to be perfect. Every manager I have had has impacted my thinking on the game, both good and bad. I have been so lucky to be managed by some household names in Essex football circles in the earlier parts of my career like Iain O’Connell, Danny Scopes, Danny Cowley, Rob Small, Terry Spillane. The older guys will remember Alan Hull and Eddie Nash who gave me a chance to play in the first place. And I can’t not mention Mike Everett at Burnham , one of the nicest men I’ve ever met, and all the guys at Catholic. I took bits from all of them honestly.

You’ve decided that now it is time to hang up your boots. What’s the reason for this? I think you just get a sense when the time is right. The recovery time for my body is taking longer and longer between games. If I play on a Saturday it takes me til about the next Friday morning to feel human again! But the biggest thing for me is that my body just can’t do what I want it to do on a pitch anymore. There are players who shouldn’t be on the same pitch as me that are actually starting to get the better of me in games and mentally I just can’t deal with it. I can still read a game well but actually getting across to someone or nicking in front of a player just seems to get tougher and tougher. A big indicator for me was in about late Feb/March. We had a game called off for bad weather on a Saturday morning and any other time I’d be fuming and miserable and I was actually delighted that I got a week off. When that happens you know the time is right Debut - 24th October 2015 Appearances - 122 (21 as substitute) Cards

Yellow - 9 Red - 2 Goals - 30

Iain O’Connell

What has been the best match you have been part of? How do I pick! Any game where you win a trophy is unbelievable and thankfully I have lots of those to look back on, cup finals, last day championships etc. Avoiding relegation on the last day for GWR at Chatham was so memorable too. Honestly I can’t pick. I could write a book about all of those matches. Do you have any disappointments or something you haven’t done? Again, any time you finish 2nd, or lose a cup final, you’ll always have regrets about something that has happened but you can’t dwell on those. The only thing I’m truly disappointed at was that I was a bit of a prat to one of my former managers Wilko and he never deserved disrespect from me at that time, and albeit that was so long ago I still wish I’d have known at that point what a manager goes through day to day. It’s the most polarising job from a mental health perspective. You’re either on top of the world or fall like that world is falling in on you, and what you need is all of your players support every day. Who has been the most influencial player you have played alongside in your career? Loads of players have influenced me but as a youngster the first few people you meet are the most important, as those are the ones that will mould you as a man. Anyone who played in the GWR team in Ryman Div 2 in 2001-2002 is responsible for moulding me. I could name that whole squad now off by heart and honestly any one of them I absolutely revere as players and men. I will mention two in particular, John Heffer who is the most honest, understated man but was also a tough uncompromising 8 our of 10 player every week. And Danny Scopes who basically looked after me in midfield for years and showed me how to take on the pitch feedback in the right way. I look up to those guys and will always.

What has been your best performance as you look back? A memorable performance was scoring 5 in a Ryman league match against Potters Bar Town but we actually ended up losing 6-5. I actually think my best ever individual performance was in an FA Cup tie way back in time for GWR away at Hanwell Town. We won 3-0 and I scored a hat trick and it was just one of those games that I remember everything I did went right. What has been the highlight of your career? The one thing I was desperate to do was play in the FA Cup first round proper and I am so lucky that with Redbridge under Terry Spillane and Jody Brown I not only got to do that but also play in the second round too. When you get that far, you want to play a football league side away from home and I managed to tick all of those boxes and no matter what I’ve done I can always say I was one of those lucky few who have managed to play in the proper rounds of the FA Cup. Before I finish I just want to give a shout out to Pavs. I was going to finish playing about 5-6 years ago after winning the league with Bowers & Pitsea, but he convinced me to play on for Catholic. Its been an unbelievable time playing for the Hoops. There is a famous saying that there are ‘no friends in football’ and whilst that may be true on the pitch, football has allowed me to make some life long friends and so I am really privileged to get to almost 39 and be healthy and ready to play golf on a Saturday from now on (the wife has no chance of me standing in Lakeside on a Saturday afternoon just yet)

Do you have any professional that you looked up to in the early part of your career? My favourite player was and is to this day Paul Merson. The most talented one footed player this country has produced (in my opinion!)

IT’s FAMILY TIME

Mark Baptist gained promotion and a county cup medal last season and decided that he would go out on a high.

You’ve decided that now it is time to hang up your boots. What’s the reason for this? This was a hard decision to make, but the right one on a personal level. I have my daughter, and her being 2 years old, I wanted to have the flexibility to spend my weekends with her. Kids are only young once, and want their parents for a short period of time, so I want to make her 100% my priority. Being 34, I am relatively young enough to come back to football in a few years time if I want to.

Tell us a little bit about who you’ve played for during your career. As a kid I was at Trinity FC until I was 17 then played mainly reserve level for Concord Rangers, with a few first team appearances thrown in. I then went state side on a soccer scholarship and played there for 4 years. When I returned I joined Southend Manor for a short while but since October 2012, I have played for CUFC, and what a decade that has been!! What has been the highlight of your career? Wow, there have been a few career highlights for me. The biggest one for me personally was being named in the ‘All American’ team in my senior year at university, state side. As a team, I guess that would be making it to the national tournament at university and also being unbeaten and winning everything with Catholic 1st and Reserves. I have league winners medals from the Olympian Div 4, 3, 2 and Premier. I was also part of the sides promoted from division 3 and then division 1 on separate occasions outside of winning the league. Cup finals are also a highlight. Back-to-back Anagrams Cup finals, plus most recently winning the Essex Junior Cup.

You appear to have been relatively injury free for a lot of your career, if you wanted to continue, even at a lower level, would your body allow it? Luckily, I haven’t had any long term injuries, nothing that hasn’t stopped me playing for longer than 2 weeks. I feel my body could continue at the reserves level. As I’ve become slower as I’ve got a little older, I have adjusted my game and know my limits to do the best for the team. No major injuries thankfully. The only injury I’ve sustained in football is a fractured wrist! I have always kept myself fit enough to compete, but know my body when to push it and not to push it..

What has been the best match you have been part of? See my previous answer. The match against Brightlingsea was great for Catholic United. I think we could call ourselves underdogs but collectively we played what was in front of us and came away with the win. Everyone that day played their part, just another special day for the club. Do you have any disappointments or something you haven’t done? I’m going to be brutally honest here. I have no disappointments. Losses in games make what we are as players and individuals, but I can’t look back and feel disappointment in anything. I see my career as positives. I’ve been fortunate to have played for some good teams and alongside ery good good players. I’ve learnt a lot about me and made some amazing people, so no, no regrets.

Who has been the best manager you have played under? I’ve been fortunate to play under some great managers. Some good tacticians, some good man managers, but for me it has to be our Chairman James Paviour, when he donned the managers coat. His success honestly speaks for itself. He built a team for the future, mixing experience and youth to give us the means to always have players of quality for future seasons. I think he set the tone for the modern iteration of the Catholic United we see today. He was always positive and team talks gave us the impetus to get into teams and set the tone for competing. I think this gives him the recognition he deserves. What has been your best performance as you look back? I can’t think of a standout performance individually. However, collectively we had a standout performance for CUFC in the semi final of the Essex Cup against Brightlingsea. It had everything, luckily it swung in our favour and into the final we marched.

Do you have any professional you looked up to in the early part of your career? I used to watch Ryan Giggs closely. He’s not what I would have called a ‘flair’ player, he went on the pitch and did his job. Being left footed myself, I would watch how he opened up space or took on players in the right places and supplied what he could to his front players. He was scary down that left hand side and I don’t think anyone wanted to be facing him during that era.

Final words.... It’s been an immense pleasure to be a part of Catholic United, and a small part of its magical history. I look forward to some more great successes and watching games from the sidelines.

Who has been the most influencial player you have played alongside in your career? I’ve had the privilege to play with some nonleague legends, Louis Godwin-Green, James Paviour, the Foy brothers to name but a few. However, there is only one that stands out for me, and that is Daniel Trenkel. If you’ve ever played alongside Dan, no one would argue with this. His presence, his knowledge, his ability to take a team to dizzy new heights is incredible. On the pitch he would organise the side and if there were any young players, he would guide them through games so they would get to know their role. Nonleague football is certainly losing a legend in Trenks as he retires. We’re good friends off the pitch and we’ve found a new competitive streak, as we play golf together.

STATISTICS First Team Debut - 23rd January 2016 Appearances - 191 (1 as substitute) Cards Yellow - 2 Red - 1 Conceded - 255 Goals Conceded per Game - 1.34 (rank 2) Clean Sheets as a Defender - 61 (rank 1)

Bappo signs off with one last cup final victory, the Essex Junior Trophy last season.

Daniels’ Courage Is What Football Needs Assistant Editor Andy Wilkins writes about discrimination in football and how we may have just got something positive to shout about..... Hello all and welcome to my first editorial as assistant editor in this, our innaugural monthly magazine. It only feels right that my first piece is to talk about some headline news back in May, something that is monumental to sport and football in the UK in particular. It’s news which will allow the sport to move forward with more equality in the game, given all that has gone in with taking the knew and making racism a thing of the past following the untimely death of George Floyd in 2020. Blackpool FC’s Jake Daniels decided the time was right for him to announce he was a gay man. He is 17 years old so never grew up in the world of Justin Fashanu, English football’s first openly gay man, who continued to play football after the revelation. Yes, times have changed massively since Fashanu came out, albeit somewhat ‘forced’ by a well known newspaper in 1990/91. Those who checked the comments on the Twitter post published by Blackpool FC, Daniel’s parent club, almost made it seem we were back in that dark era where LGBT+ rights in football were virtually nonexistent. It saddened me immensely, reading so much negativitiy and hatred over such a thing that shouldn’t even be required to be done in this day and age.

It’s crazy how there are many LGBT+ footballers in the women’s game, without any issues, yet for the men’s game, it’s unheard of. In the UK, with the large international fan bases that many of the Premier League teams have, it is insane that almost every club in the 92 have an LGBT+ fan group and it has taken until now that a player has decided to be open and honest about their sexuality. Football V Homophobia started in 2008. Fifteen years after Kick It Out emerged, and both organisations are doing incredible work to ensure equality is given across the board. These two great organisations are providing support for the LGBT+ community and also those from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. The fight to end racism, involving Black Lives Matter, has kicked off something never quite seen before, something the whole of the British Isles has taken on massively in sport. It does seem important to remember however, that there are different types of abuse that need to be stamped out of the game. Homophobia, alongside racial discrimination, are just two types that need everyone, leagues, clubs, officials, players and supporters, to help drive this out of the game.

With Daniels deciding to come out, he is in a position to become a trendsetter not just for men’s football, but for the good of sport in general. From what I hear, he definitely has the talent to compete in the Premier League and given his age of just 17, he definitely has time to reach the higher echelons during his career. I think, like with many talented young players in the Championship, it’s just a matter of when, not how or if.

Jake Daniels

I remember several years ago at a football match where a group of teenagers decided to call a goalkeeper “gay” because he was wearing a pink shirt. The association of a colour defining the goalkeeper as gay says it all really. When I challenged them for making such remarks, it didn’t end well for me. I was told to be quiet in not so many words as they obviously knew better. Slowly over the past few years, we’ve seen such fantastic figures like Ryan Atkin, Jordan Howlett-Mundle and Luke Tuffs all become huge figureheads for the game outside of the Premier League, making it normal that its fine to be a part of the LGBT+ community whilst being involved in mens football whether it be as a referee, player or even a manager. Only when do more come out within the Premier League to I think that there will be greater momentum in the acceptance.

I had a friend ask me how long it will be before we see the likes of Emma Hayes (manager of Chelsea Women) come over and manage in the men’s game. My answer was “soon, I hope”. Its often been accepted that men come over to the women’s game and manage but we’re yet to see this the other way round. As things stand, there are the occasional women’s coaches in the game, of whom one, April Smith, is actually a first team coach for local neighbours Southend Manor of the Essex Senior League. It’s seen as perfectly acceptable for women to be physios, coaches, scouts, but that step into the hotseat as a manager is still like the proverbial first step on the moon. The chant “your team is sh** but your physio’s fit” is a chant I still hear way too often in this day and age. It needs to stop. Supporters singing this are not teaching those younger supporters any form of respect whilst in the stands. My message. If your gay, good for you. If you’re a woman, great. Everyone is welcome in football. No matter who you are, who you love and what your background is. If you have experienced or witnessed discrimination at a football match, at any level, or on social media, you can report it to Kick It Out through their online reporting form or via their reporting app available on both iOS and Android. You can also report hate crimes to your local police force. You can report posts to the respective social media channels by using their subsequent reporting links

I take the stance personally that love will always win. By becoming more accepting of people who have different lifestyles whether it be through their sexuality, gender or race, it makes those who are working in such an environment, such as football, achieve more success than ever thought before.

APPEARANCES

202

20 2 Ap ps 181 Sta r t s 21 Sub 39 Goa l s 8 Ye l l ow

Ronnie Bridges finally jumped to the top of the appearances charts following his substitute appearance in Catholic’s 3-2 home win against Canning Town in the final game of last season. The appearance, his 202nd, takes him above Christoper Wall, who he played alongside for a number of seasons. Bridges had a goalscoring debut, in the starting lineup on the 26th November 2005 in a 3-3 draw at home to White Ensign in the Southend Borough Combination Premier Division. That appearance would be his only one during that season, but the following season he played 28 games, scoring 11 goals in what would be his most productive in front of goals. As a footballer he appears to be somewhat of a ‘gentleman’ with just 8 yellow cards spanning 14 seasons. Bridges stated “I’m not 100% sure what my plans are for next season. I keep myself fit and I’m still happy to play but I’m hoping Simon has me down 11th on his list to call rather than first or second, or even third or fourth!”

A NEW PERSPECTIVE For the 2022/23 season we enter the world of live streamed games and highlights using the latest in artificial inteliigence technology; the VEO 2 match camera

Catholic United have invested in the latest technology for grassroots clubs, the VEO 2 match camera. We will be offering live streamed games exclusively to those who sign up for our new social club membership, but will stream specific games to the general public throughout the season. So what is the VEO 2 match camera? The concept of VEO started back in 2015, with its first camera, VEO1, made available a few years later, giving clubs the ability to record games and produce match highlights. The two front facing camera’s adopt ‘follow the ball’ filming so all the action is in focus all of the time.

The VEO 2 camera incorporates new technology for live streaming matches, not previously available with the VEO 1 camera. Other updates to note are the state of the art lenses used in the VEO 2 camera which brings sharper imagery to the ‘follow-the-ball’ technology which mirrors the familiarity of the live games we are all accustomed to on our tv’s. At Catholic United we’ve been inundated with the same question around streaming our games so we’re happy that for this season we will be able to stream all of our matches (signal dependant). However, the initial cost of providing this service is expensive so we’re hoping to recoup this by means of offering this to social club members for a small annual fee. Not only will this ensure we cover the initial cost but we can hopefully build towards the subsequent years subscriptions and continue to offer live streamed games.

FIRST TEAM

First team manager Simon Thomas awarded his Managers Player of the Year award to left wingback Alfie Whiteaker. Thomas stated “Alfie was the most consistent in his performances throughout the season”

MANAGERS PLAYER OF THE YEAR & PLAYERS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

ALFIE WHITEAKER

Whiteaker was also recognised by his fellow players, picking up the Players Player of the Year

Special award for the first team was awarded to Michael Sammut. Simon Thomas commented “This was a player who I asked to step up as captain, to lead the team and do something he was not familiar with. Mike stepped up and more in his first season as captain” MANAGERS SPECIAL AWARD

MIKE SAMMUT Striker Aaron Baldwin was presented with the Golden Boot award for his 13 goals in 14 games for the first team, despite being out injured for a period of time.

GOLDEN BOOT

AARON BALDWIN

Simon Thomas stated that “Aaron’s contribution to the team cannot be understated. When he is on the pitch, he is a menace and a threat with his eye for goal”

RESERVES Managers Special Award

DANIEL TRENKEL

Managers Player of the Year

Players Player of the Year

TOBIAS DESOUZA

JOE O’KANE

3rd TEAM Managers Special Award

JOE KEVILLE

Managers Player of the Year

Players Player of the Year

JAMES HUDSON

SEAN CORDER

Andrew Doherty Mark Baptist Dan Trenkel Louis Godwin-Green Eamonn Kearney

CHAMPAGNE AWARDS

15-16 players every single week Retirement - service to club Retirement - service to club Retirement - service to club County Cup and Promotion

Tom Kearney Pat Kearney Emily Mackler Barrie Daykin Sean Corder

Reaching 200+ games Reaching 200+ games Non Playing Commitment Non Playing Commitment Service to Kit Washing

PRESENTATION EVENING

Saturday 25th June

SUNDAY 1st Managers Player of the Year

Managers Player of the Year

OWEN WELLS

LEWIS WILKINSON

MATT McCORLEY

Managers Player of the Year

Players Player of the Year

DAVE BOWMAN

ADAM MOORE

COLIN EKERS

VETS TEAM

SPORTSMAN OF THE RYAN MORGAN YEAR

CLUB AWARDS CHAIRMANS AWARD

PAUL HODGES PRESIDENTS AWARD

ROB LILLEY

(media)

CLUBMAN OF THE YEAR

SIMON THOMAS CLUB GOLDEN BOOT

FRANK CRAIK

(35 goals)

Team photo by Chris Totten

LURGAN CELTIC FOOTBALL CLUB

Official Allegiance Club

Sharing club values of being open and inclusive to all, to encompass and represent all members in the community and society in which we operate

LURGAN.....an CELTIC introduction

As our ties with Celtic Football Club grow stronger following Calvin Carter-Vickers permanent transfer a few weeks ago, we decided it would be good to seek out other like-minded clubs that have the same values that we do. During pre-season we reached out to Lurgan Celtic to cement an official allegiance, and a club we are happy to introduce to everyone. So, who are Lurgan Celtic FC?

A club by the name of Lurgan Celtic was originally formed in 1903, with the obvious slant of aiming towards the Roman Catholic community of the town, adopting the name and colours of Glasgow Celtic, a popular club among the Irish Catholics population of Glasgow and the west of Scotland. At the time it was a bold move to try and break into the world of football. The Gaelic Athletic Association was in its early stages and was keen to promote Gaelic sports and football in particular, perceived as “foreign”, was discouraged. A change in attitudes gradually took hold in the early 1970s and Lurgan Celtic was reborn to try its luck again in the local football scene, quickly rising to become one of the strongest clubs in the Craigavon area.

In 2003 the club closed their town centre ground and relocated to share Oxford United’s ground on the edge of Lurgan at Knockramer Park, which offered better facilities.

Irish Football League membership remained elusive during these years, partly due to the presence of Glenavon down the road at a time when the IFA was trying to reach out to new footballing towns. There was also a suggestion that it was the club’s clearly Nationalist stance as they pushed for membership of what was considered a predominantly Unionist league that stood in their way at that time. So strongly was this felt that the club joined forces with Belfast club Donegal Celtic, another club that took its name and kit from the Glasgow club, and threatened the League with legal action to gain membership. The restructuring of the league in the early part of the 21st century eventually resulted in both Celtic clubs gaining admission to the Irish Football League Second Division for the 2002–03 season.

Promotion to the Intermediate League First Division was achieved in 2006–07, but in 2008 the club failed to meet the criteria for a place in the new IFA Championship, and found itself in the IFA Interim League for the 2008–09 season. They successfully made the necessary improvements to gain admission to the newly formed third tier, IFA Championship 2, for the 2009–10 season. After seven seasons of consolidation in Championship 2 with occasional flirts with relegation, Celtic surged to the 2014–15 NIFL Championship 2 title, achieving promotion to the national second tier, Championship 1.

On the back of their title success the previous season, Celtic pulled off one of the local game’s biggest giant-killing acts of the 21st century. After reaching the quarter-finals for the first time ever in the 2015–16 Irish Cup, Celtic were drawn to face senior NIFL Premiership side and beaten Irish Cup finalists the previous year, Portadown away at Shamrock Park. Celtic stunned the Ports by taking a 2–0 lead after 54 minutes. However, Portadown came back into the match after 70 minutes with two goals of their own to level the score at 2–2. However, Lurgan Celtic had the last say, and scored a last-minute penalty to win 3–2 and cause a major upset by eliminating Portadown and reaching the semi-finals of the cup for the first time in the club’s history. The match was also notable as Portadown’s final match under the management of Ronnie McFall. After the match, the Portadown manager resigned, ending his reign at the club after 29 years.[2] In the Irish Cup semifinal they were defeated 3–0 by Linfield with Aaron Burns scoring a hat-trick. Despite the achievement of reaching the IrishCup semi-finals, manager Colin Malone resigned at the end of the 2016-17 season and the club endured a period of instability. The appointment of Brendan Shannon as Celtic player-manager could not prevent a serious downturn in results, and Shannon left halfway through the 2017-18 season, to be succeeded by Frankie Wilson. By this point, relegation to the third tier had become an inevitability; Celtic finished the season 20 points adrift of 11th-placed Dergview.

A 17-year spell in the Northern Ireland Football League ended on 15 August 2019, as the club announced its intention to withdraw from the Premier Intermediate League, with a view to reforming youth structures and resuming senior football activities for the 2020-21 season. It was announced on 29 June 2020 that Lurgan Celtic’s application to join the Mid-Ulster Football League was accepted, and the club played in the MUFL Division 3 for the 2020-21 season, which was suspended due to Covid. The first full season back playing for the senior team was 2021-22 at the end of which saw the team gain promotion to Division 2 and win the John Magee Memorial cup. Michael Smyth and Donie McCourt agreed to take over the management of the squad upon its return to action and this season has seen a highly competitive league with FC Mindwell and Bessbrook United vying with Lurgan Celtic throughout the season for the promotional spots in the league. FC Mindwell started the season in phenomenal form and won each of their opening 19 league games to open up a healthy lead at the summit of the table.

As the season entered post-Christmas fixtures Mindwell looked uncatchable; but things turned in Bessbrooks favour for the second promotional spot when a disappointing draw away to Loughshore, was soon followed by a narrow defeat away to Tollymore United, which seriously dented Celtic’s ambitions. Both games had been played in tough conditions, but the players also failed to turn up in the contests and tough questions needed answering by the squad. With a game looming against unbeaten Mindwell, it was acknowledged that realistically only a win would push the Hoops back into the mix and so it fared out, as the team produced probably one of its best performances of the season to administer a 4-1 defeat to the visitors in devastating fashion.

The Hoops opened their own season with convincing wins over FC United of Lisburn, Damolly, The Dons and Lisburn Youth, before falling to defeat at home to Castlecaulfield. Throughout this time Dwyer Lavery, Aaron Withers, Gary Gilmore and Paddy Toman were regulars on the scoresheet, as the team showed glimpses of the excellent talent and scoring prowess they possessed. Bessbrook and the Hoops were neck and neck with little quarter given, and it was no surprise that the first meeting of the sides saw an entertaining match end level at 2 goals a-piece.

Michael Haughian and Michael McConville were turning in excellent performances in addition to the attack-minded players in the team, including the January addition Jonny Reynolds; as they soon put a fantastic run together that saw 11 league wins produced on the bounce, coupled with a John Magee Memorial cup run that took them to the final. The league form saw them soon bypass Bessbrook and promotion was secured with a game to spare. It had been a fantastic achievement by the management and playing squad, although a Cup final loomed to round off what would hopefully be a hugely successful season for the Wee Hoops. The final saw them pitted against Castlecaulfield, who had proved tough opposition in the league, and on Wed 8th June at Holm Park, Armagh, the final was played. Celtic took an early lead courtesy of player of the year Paddy Toman, before Castlecaulfield equalised before halftime. Whilst there were opportunities for Celtic to regain the lead in the contest, the match entered the final quarter with both teams locked level. With thoughts drifting to extra time, young player of the year Michael McConville coolly slotted home to secure the win and John Magee Memorial Cup success for Lurgan Celtic. The team will enjoy the brief break before returning with plans afoot for the new season in MUFL Division 2. The club cherishes its PAST, works hard in the PRESENT and endeavours to plan for the FUTURE. We are a club that is open and welcome to all; and seek to encompass and represent all members of the community and society in which we operate.

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The Catholic United Reserve Team Will Be

Plying Their Trade In The Essex Olympian League Division 2 Following A Second Successive Promotion. Under the stewardship of Eamonn Kearney and Barrie Deakin, the team were two games away from winning the league title. Sadly a draw at Hashtag United Development on the penultimate weekend put paid to a league winners trophy accompanying a junior county cup that was already in the bag. A final day victory at Hullbridge Sports Reserves ensured a runners-up spot, and promotion, capping a wonderful season.

As manager Eamonn Kearney builds for life in division two of the Essex Olympian League, he will be without two stalwart hoops in Dan Trenkel and Mark Baptist. Kearney stated “they are big players to replace, both with great knowledge and experience at this level” The first pre-season training session is on Saturday 2nd June and it is an open to all session. first and reserve management teams will be present in the hope that players can be found that will be suitable to enrol within both teams.

A Look BACK

Local sports blogger and Yellow Advertiser contributor Peter Dudley joins the monthly magazine to review an Olympian Premier last weekend title decider..... Hey, my name is Peter Dudley, and I am an avid supporter/blogger of local non-league football in the Essex/London area, and this will be my first of many contributions to the Catholic United monthly magazine. I’m hoping to provide ongoing reviews from the division but for this issue, I thought I’d briefly talk about the finale to the Essex Olympian Premier title race. Heading into the final weeks of the season, Rayleigh Town, Basildon Town and Ongar Town all had a chance of winning the Premier Division title, and with each club’s final game happening one after the other over an eleven-day period, it meant it was perfect for me to attend each team’s final attempt to win the division. Rayleigh Town were first up on Tuesday 3rd May as they entertained Galleywood. After a rather nervy first half which saw the game remain goalless, the hosts blew their opponents away with four second half goals to take the game 4-0. Rayleigh had done their job and all they could do to put pressure on the other contenders to win the title.

Both Basildon Town and Ongar Town needed to lose their final games to have any chance, so it was out of their hands and I am sure Rayleigh Town’s management, players and supporters were eagerly watching the next game on the schedule. Over to Basildon Town I went, who were away at Hutton, playing at Polo Fields. It was interesting to see if they could throw their hat in the ring. A point would have been enough to overhaul Rayleigh, but a win was needed ideally, to put the pressure on Ongar Town, who played their final game the following weekend. After a very tight first half, it took a second half goal from the superb Graham Harrision to give the visitors maximum points and hand the title baton over to Ongar Town who knew only a victory would take the division title.

One side to all of this is that in the days leading up to that final game for Ongar, Basildon Town learned they had won promotion to senior football as they were the only club from the title contenders to be able to apply. They at least knew they were progressing to step-6 of the nonleague pyramid regardless of the outcome at Lakeside Sports Ground, the home of Ongar Town, but promotion via a title win is a noteable part of any club’s history. To the Ongar game then. Ongar Town hosting Catholic United, a team they had beaten just a couple of weeks beforehand, and they knew if they could repeat that victory at Len Forge, the title was theirs. A very nervy first half where both teams had chances, ended goalless, but a second half blitz from Ongar saw them comfortably net four unanswered goals, including an outrageous goal from Freddy Mattock. The title EOFL Premier Division title belonged to Ongar for the 2021-22 season and for the neutral, a great end to the season. Catholic Utd manager Simon Thomas congratulates Richard Ponsford for his title victory Finally, there has been some news on some teams ground sharing within the EOFL Premier Division for the forthcoming season. Rayleigh Town have moved out of the Sports and Social Club ground for a single season, as renovations continue to bring the ground up to senior/step5/6 standard. Rayleigh have signed an agreement to groundshare with National South club, Concord Rangers at their Aspect Arena Stadium. Hutton have left Polo Fields to ground share Chadfields, home of Tilbury FC.

It would be Ongar’s final game in the Premier though as the end of the season saw their manager and several players leave for pastures new. The result, they would drop down to Division Four of the Olympian League and take over their Reserve side who occupied that division. At least they achieved the Premier title as their final hurrah at that level.

What this is showing is good ambition from these local sides who are looking to climb the non-league pyramid by having the infrastructure in place in order to progress. With other Olympian Premier clubs improving grounds or their squads, it should make for yet another very competitive season ahead for sure!!

All the best PETE

True

COL OURS We bring our historical photographs to life with an all new AI coloursation program. Images have been rendered from black and white to colour. All images we publish each month have never been published before.

Our earliest known photograph, depicting our first team from 1960. Before our beloved hooped shirts were donated to us by Celtic in 1968, as you can see, the club were formed playing in white shirts, black shorts with a hint of colour on our v-neck collars.

en and white The first time we wore the famous gre in 1968, a final hoops, was for our Walton Cup Final . which we won 2-1 against Hayden FC

WHAT’S IN Home Shirt 22/23 £24.99

JOMA Champion V Warmup - £17.86

Green Training Shirt 22/23 £24.99

Fluo-Green Training Shirt 22/23 - £24.99

JOMA Crew IV Training £15.53

JOMA Hobby Polo £24.99

STORE JOMA Campus Manager Shirt - £17.86

JOMA Quarter Zip £16.76

JOMA Supernova II Hoodie - £26.31

JOMA Iris Rain Jacket £16.15

JOMA Everest Coat £33.39 JOMA Crew IV Hoodie £29.59

Prices are for adult sizes & does not include delivery charges Visit www.sxsports.co.uk for more products and to place your order

PLAYER

SPONSORSHIP

We’d like to thank all of our player sponsors for your support this season

Louis Godwin-Green Home

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Patrick Kearney Home

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If you are interested in sponsoring a player, please contact the club at secretary@catholicutd.co.uk

1 FOUNDED: GROUND:

SATURDAY 9th JULY WADHAM LODGE - 2pm

January 2018 Old Spotted Dog, E7

Previous Matches (competitive only) Pld W D L F A 2 2 0 0 11 2

SATURDAY 16th July LEN FORGE CENTRE - 2pm

FOUNDED: GROUND:

1876 Mayesbrook Park

No competitive matches between Catholic United & Romford FC

3 FOUNDED: GROUND:

January 2019 Harlow Arena

No competitive matches between Catholic Utd & Cannons Wood (DTFC)

TUESDAY 19th JULY LEN FORGE CENTRE - 2pm

SATURDAY 23rd July MARCONI GROUND - 2pm

FOUNDED: GROUND:

1898 Cricklefield Stadium

No competitive matches between Catholic United & Romford FC

5 FOUNDED: GROUND:

1955 (as Armada Sports) Gardiners Close

No competitive matches between Catholic Utd & Basildon Utd

SATURDAY 30th JULY LEN FORGE CENTRE - 2pm

SATURDAY 6th AUGUST Henderson S&S Club Romford - 1:30pm

6 FOUNDED: 1947 GROUND: Henderson Sports & Social Club No competitive matches between Catholic United & Romford FC

Plying their trade in Division 1 of the Essex Olympian League, Harold Hill will no doubt provide a sterner and more realistic test than any of our friendlies. Now managed by formerHerongate and DTFC manager Billy Cove, the side will fast become a force in the division with Cove’s experience within the Olympian League. Hill, who were in the Olympian Premier five years ago, dropped down to division 2 during that time away, rejoined the Olympian League last season following a short stine in the Mid-Essex League.

Prior to their relegation from the Premier Division in 2017, the club had spent nine out of the previous ten seasons in the same division with some mixed success to say the least. However, with Cove at the helm, you know one thing for sure, that they will get some results against some of the tough sides in the league who have pushed for success in recent seasons.

SEASON 2022/23

Bishop Stortford Swifts Last season finish - 10th (15 teams in total) Canning Town FC Last season finish - 14th

Essex Olympian League Premier Division Constitution 2022/23

Galleywood FC Last season finish - 11th Hutton FC Last season finish - 4th Kelvedon Hatch FC Last season finish - 5th Leigh Ramblers FC Last season finish - 12th Old Southendian FC Last season finish - 8th Rayleigh Town FC Last season finish - 3rd

First Team Fixtures 13th August @2pm Toby (a) 20th August @2pm Canning Town (h) 3rd September @2pm Galleywood (h)

Runwell Sports FC Last season finish - Division 1 runners-up

10th September @2pm Bishop Storford Swifts (a)

Shenfield AFC Last season finish - 9th

Reserve Team Fixtures

Springfield FC Last season finish - 13th Sungate FC Last season finish - 7th Toby FC Last season finish - Division 1 winners

20th August @2pm Hashtag Utd (a) 27th August @2pm Rayleigh Town (a) 10th September @2pm Old Southendian (h)

WE ARE PLEASED TO RECOGNISE THE OFFICIAL PARTNERS OF CATHOLIC UNITED FC

OUR SPONSORS

If you would like to know more about how to become a sponsor, please contact the club secretary@catholicutd.co.uk

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