Updated 10 August 2010

BRANCH FOOTBALL TEAM NEWS 2010/11 SEASON  

After a great 2009/10 season for the Sunderland Branch football team a whole new frontier awaits the lads in the coming season, new teams to play against in the new title race of Div 1 and some re-unions with teams of past seasons. The Branch team sees the departure of its admin assistant Luke Marson, who is now ensconced in Belgium and will be following our progress in Div 1 with great interest I am sure. Filling his shoes so to speak is a new co-operative of people have kindly agreed to assist me in running the team for this season are Tony & Lesley Jones along with Dan Quigley. Both Tony and Dan were joint runners up as the voted player’s players of last season. Lesley won the clubman of the year accolade as well for her support and assistance for the team since forming in 2006.

I would like to thank all those who made the end of season awards in May at Kensington’s Urban Golf, a fantastic turn out and it was great to see so many partners and children attend as well. A good time had by all. Even Tyrone Jones whose shots taken on the golf course over 6 holes outscored his goal tally for the season by some way I believe. (Think he got the concept wrong this time) plus it was good to hear Garry Jones saying he is aiming for comeback after breaking his leg in February for the cause.  

The lads will start in a reformatted APFSCIL Sunday League, with only nine teams now left in both Div 1 and Div 2. With potentially play-offs for Div1 lower teams 7^th and 8^th against top end Div 2 teams r/u and 3rd at the end of the season. Though the top Div 2 teams will go up and the bottom Div 1 side down. 

It appears Sunday League is not alone in its demise of clubs in a parallel with the professional counterparts of recent years. Though administration is not an issue as such, to give you some idea of how things panned out in the APFSCIL last season a quick look at the league tables showed you that a record amount of matches in both divisions went un-played. Some teams stopped in November others after Christmas, thus defining the relegation positions in Div 1 as such at a very early stage. Similar problems existed in Div 2 whereby several teams where staggering to fulfil fixtures and talk of folding was rife. Thankfully some of these teams are now re-entering the league, though for how long remains to be seen.  

I am confident that the lads this season can sustain themselves as one of the top teams. We are in it to win it and build on the success of last season. In recent years teams that went up came back down the following season, very Premier League. Only last season did Blackpool and Brighton stop that pattern. 

LEAGUE AGM END OF SEASON 09/10 

The end of season League AGM pretty much formalised the end of the Eire Supporters Branch team. They had managed a handful of fixtures in Div 1 after a rumoured internal dispute and conceded so many that they were relegated and are now no more. Stoke City whom had been suspended in November 2009 for having three lads sent off in one match and all had declined to tell the referee their details along with some other alleged unpleasantness - and apparently still to this day have not told the FA anything - were voted out of the APFSCIL football league altogether after failing to win a required 66% yes vote of current teams to re-enter. Thus the league organising committee lost a member in the Stoke manager straight away. To add to other issues the current League chairman the ex - Norwich City branch team manager resigned due to never being able to attend much due to work soon was followed by the shock news that the current Norwich City team manager (who finished cup r/u and r/u in Div 1 last season after winning doubles and all sorts in previous seasons) has now folded the team as well.   

On the plus side Boro, Aberdeen 2nds and Dundee United who were as of the end of last season going to call it a day have re-entered.  

The lads still await a winner’s trophy and medals from the league. No one seems to know where the Div 2 trophy is which is useful! It’s been some years since it was sighted I am informed. So I had some medals commissioned prior to the AGM and these have by and large been handed out to all who played a part in the league last season, with a handful yet to get theirs, as they could not make the end of season gathering at Urban Golf in May.  

The committee did finally (after asking) formalise the 2008/9 Div 2 winners issue re Brighton & Blackpool in spring of this year. It appears after our matches with Brighton in May 2009 that having reviewed the issues and evidence of believed unsigned/registered players, Brighton had made a mistake in failing to register said player/s (though their manager believed his work secretary had done it for him or similar). The League did not hold any required paperwork for the said player/s. Having left the issue so long it was decided after a very narrow vote to let the result stand, with a warning that registrations will be monitored closely from now on.  

I can say that in the 2009/10 season other teams did use unregistered players after the February signing deadline, just to make 11 on the day and one team got a draw out of it doing so against us, that team played up to six new players, having used four others openly the week before though losing then. Although they just wanted to play as many games outstanding as they could with no chance of winning anything, the arguments remain is it fair as its just Sunday football? I am divided on it as a lot of the teams we played are good lads and I am pleased the team found players to keep going though their results could have had a bearing on the title race as such (it did not in the end) and had it done so how would the SAFC lads have felt!  

PRE-SEASON FIXTURES 

Sunday 22^nd August – vs. Old Owens (Finchley) – 230pm kick off – Peel Centre 

Sunday 29^th August – vs. Dundee United  - 230-pm kick off – Peel Centre 

Sunday 12^th Sept – vs. Hull City – 230pm kick off – Peel Centre 

New players, all aging Kevin Ball types to Darren Bent proven goal machines welcome. 

Alex Thornton, Player of the Year 2009/10

APFSCIL DIVISION 1 – Fixtures 2010/11 

Sunday 19^th Sept – vs. Aberdeen (Current Div 1 champs and Cup winners) – 230pm kick  - Away – Chiswick Civil Service – (Poss. move to Peel Centre) 

Sunday 26^th Sept – vs. Scotland – 230pm kick off – Peel Centre, NW9 5JE 

Sunday 3^rd Oct – vs. Hibernian – 230pm kick off – Away – Chiswick Civil Service (Poss move to Peel Centre)  

Sunday 17^th Oct – vs. Middlesboro – 230pm kick off – Peel Centre, NW9 5JE 

Other League fixtures in October and November now clash with SKY and Sunderland AFC so they will be re-arranged.  

On another note, due to the reduced number of fixtures this season, I hope to get a game or two arranged over the season against some teams we used to play for fun in the 1990’s such as St Agatha’s Teachers and so forth. It’s a great chance for players of all standards who are SAFC to meet up and have a laugh without worrying about league issues and fitness to represent the branch now and then when otherwise they would not normally or have retired gracefully in the past.  

This brings me onto the news that Mark Stewart who has been an inspirational player for the Branch team over past seasons, has announced he is to retire at the top aged 48. I would like to thank him for all he has done for the team over the years and hope that he does come back to play, though he suffered injury last season with his back he made a grand finale in the final run in to last seasons championship. 

All players’ new and old welcome: please contact me on 07903162494 or at safcsalondonfootball@hotmail.co.uk  

Please feel free to come and support the Branch team one Sunday afternoon. All welcome.  

Regards 

Mark Hay