Adderbury Park Football Club are very disappointed and saddened to read the comments directed at the Football Club, both in the way it is positioned within the Adderbury village and also regarding it’s conduct and future and past intentions.

Firstly Adderbury Park Football Club IS NOT a private Football Club, it is open and available for anyone in Adderbury to join. Training and matches are advertised and communicated and we would love to welcome new participants.

Adderbury Park are also constantly criticized for the lack of Adderbury residents within their two current sides, this is a battle we cannot possibly win in the current situation. Without the opportunity to provide and run youth teams, children in the village are forced to look elsewhere to play football, often going to nearby villages to fulfil this. It is almost impossible to get players to return to the village once they reach adult age, as they have grown up playing for a another club and also with their friends, they have no reason to return to Adderbury, just because they live there. We advertise to recruit within the village and do have a number of players from Adderbury, with our 1st team captain being an Adderbury resident. Deddington Football Club’s players are made up by a majority of Adderbury residents, ranging from their junior sides right through to their adults. Whenever the parents are asked about this they simply reply that there was no football on offer in Adderbury for them to take their children to, so are forced to travel there. Deddington are also unable to provide facilities to all their players and teams due to the large numbers they have with teams being sent back to Adderbury (the primary school), Fritwell and Steeple Aston to be able to play. They also hold training sessions on the Lucy Plackett Playing Field because the players and coaches are all from Adderbury. So the argument that football is not played or needed in the village is a hugely false claim. We have started an Under 12’s team within the village to show that we can provide youth teams, but unfortunately we do not have the space or facilities to expand this offering to further age-groups.

The Adderbury village is desperate for new sporting facilities to be able to grow both sporting participation in the village and also the village football club to be able to provide footballing opportunities for boys, girls, teenagers and adults in Adderbury, without the need to travel various distances to achieve this. The population of Adderbury is growing, so the need for not only improved facilities but also providing the opportunity to participate in sport is essential.

Currently housed at the Lucy Plackett Playing Field, the football club have very small, tired and worn facilities with the field itself beset with problems. The Lucy Plackett is a flood plain and floods during any sustained periods of rainfall. Over the last three seasons alone the field has been unplayable for a total of 21 weeks when fixtures have been scheduled, included, a period of 9 weeks when the playing field was that flooded people were even kayaking on it. Given that our season on average runs from September to the beginning of May, this is a huge period of time. The field is also not big enough to provide pitches and space for all youth and adult teams. These are facts that the campaign fail to provide or allude to.

The clubhouse itself also is unsuitable for football; it doesn’t have the required standard of facilities to cater for youth teams and officials. It is essentially rotting, despite the football clubs best attempts to regenerate and replenish the building as much as possible, all of which has been at the football clubs cost. The prefab buildings of this nature were not made to last as long as this has been in place, it is cold and damp and really not a place families and children should be spending their time.

The football club, over the last 3 years has spent in the region of £3600 on the clubhouse building and £1600 on the Lucy Plackett Playing Field. All of which has been funded by the football club through fundraising and grant applications. This spend has seen the complete plaster boarding and plastering of the main bar area, replacing changing room benches, the complete repainting of inside and out of the building, the repair to numerous items within the building and also the repair and introduction of lighting inside and out of the building. This type of spend is something that would need to continue, potentially more on just keeping the building safe and just about useable. The money spent on the field, for example the reseeding and weed treatment (the whole Lucy Plackett and not just the pitch area), is also something that will need to be done fairly regularly, but repairing damage caused by the increased wear and tear (due to the flood plain issue) is constantly ongoing.

Adderbury Park Football club are entirely self-funded, whilst also trying to contribute to the community as much as we can. We support the Adderbury Church, the Running Club and are also trying to be more involved in supporting Party in the Park and future village events. We support the village pubs, whilst also fundraising for and promoting Katharine House Hospice. We are the only club, certainly in the area, if not further afield, that carry the name and logo of a charity on our shirts, with Katherine House being embroidered on both the back and sleeves of our shirts. We also pay for 60% of the water rates for the Lucy Plackett site, which includes the Activity Centre, a building used every day of the week, whereas our club house is used most commonly once a week for 9 months of the year, something we are happy to do and support as it is another key community hub.

In terms of the new facilities, the football club would not only be able to manage and maintain anything from a football perspective but also support other sports and community use. The key aspect being, we aren’t looking for these new facilities just for football, it is something for the Adderbury community, something not only for now, but the future, a facility the village can be proud of. Along with sports facilities, it could be a building that could provide a hub for village activities and events for all of the many clubs and organisations that form part of Adderbury. Football is just one of many sports that could take place there; rugby, hockey, netball, running and athletics, there really are so many opportunities. It would also be something the school could use, providing a larger area and much improved facilities specifically for sport, another huge plus for the village.

From a football perspective, youth football is the key element; a youth set-up within the village that has qualified coaches and means children can train and play within the village (currently the adults have to train at NOA during the winter months). Adderbury Park currently has 10 qualified coaches and a Child Safety and Welfare officer within their ranks, with many more interested in becoming qualified to support such a project. These young and vibrant coaches are keen to work with the children and parents to provide youth teams from the ages of Under 6, right through to the adults. Therefore giving children that natural progression from youth to adult football and the opportunity to represent the village they live and grow up in.

Adderbury Park FC, is run by a strong committee, that contains Adderbury residents and is well placed to deal with youth football and the clubs progression. For a village side we have been very successful on and off the pitch, with the clubs two sides winning 4 trophies last season and also shortlisted (in the top 3) for the Oxfordshire Football Association Charter Standard Club of the Year, a huge honour for Adderbury. Charter Standard is a kitemark (that Adderbury Park holds), which recognises and rewards high quality levels of provision in club and league football. The kitemark is awarded to clubs and leagues that are well run, sustainable, which place child protection, quality coaching and safety paramount.

We have a great relationship with the Oxfordshire FA and they are there to help and support the club as it develops, dedicating expertise to help assist in providing everything we need to with the site development. There are also many grants and funding available to help make projects such as this viable and massively contribute towards costs. The football club is keen to be involved in any development and be part of its progression in any way that we can.

Unfortunately it seems a small and very vocal minority are determined to damage any reputation of the Football Club and its members who are trying so hard to make it a huge part of the community and be something the village can be proud of. We need all the support we can get with this community project, and have up until now remained quiet despite the constant criticism from certain quarters. We now felt it was right to respond accordingly. We need people to stand up to the minority and support something that could provide huge benefits to the Adderbury community.

If you have any questions please contact James Collier (Adderbury Park Football Club Chairman) on 07919555328.