With the dust relatively long since settled on season 2023/24, our 29th as Rockleaze Rangers FC Junior Section, work has not stopped behind the scenes over the summer to prepare for 2024/25.

2023/24 was another fantastic season for the club as we saw nearly 500 children enjoy organised football across all 13 age groups in the junior section as well as our Inclusive team. We saw teams playing in the FA registered leagues Avon Youth League (AYL), Hanham Minor League (HML), Bristol Saturday Youth League (BSYL), Bristol U18 Football Combination League and Severn Valley Youth League (SVYL), and we also participated for the first time in the Ability Counts Tournament organised by the Gloucestershire Football Association. We work very closely with the organisers of these leagues to support the successful running of each of them, and register our thanks to all who put their time in to make it happen.

We also participate in the Bristol Friendly League (BFL) at ages U7-U10, a slightly less formal but nonetheless competitive and enjoyable chance for children to play against opposing teams in the area.

Last season we were very proud to be the only club to win 2 AYL Cup Finals, at the U15 and U13 age groups, and our U13s also completed their second successive treble of the GFA Cup, AYL Cup & AYL Division 1 winners. They were also runners up, representing Bristol, in a National competition in Nottingham.

We also held a hugely successful summer tournament on Saturday 15th June at our facilities at UWE Hillside Gardens, with over 650 children playing football across 173 matches on the day.

Preparations for season 2024/25 include registering teams for the leagues and competitions, ensuring affiliations are filed with the relevant leagues and with the Gloucestershire Football Association.

We also continue to value our excellent relationships with the University of Bristol and University of the West of England in our use of the Coombe Dingle Sports Complex and UWE Hillside Gardens facilities respectively. We are highly appreciative of the support for grassroots and children’s football that both universities demonstrate through our partnerships with them.

The upcoming season, our 30th as the Junior section of Rockleaze Rangers Football Club, will see us field 28 teams across the 4 registered leagues;

U18s – 1 team Bristol U18 Football Combination League
U17s – 1 team Bristol U18 Football Combination League
U16s – 2 teams AYL
U15s – 2 teams AYL, 2 teams BSYL
U14s – 2 teams AYL
U13s – 2 teams AYL, 2 teams BSYL
U12s – 2 teams AYL, 2 teams BSYL
U11s – 1 team HML, 1 team SVYL, 2 teams BSYL
U10s – 1 team HML, 3 teams BSYL
U9s – 2 teams BSYL, 2 teams BFL
U8s – 4 teams BFL
U7s – 4 teams BFL

Our 13 teams in the BSYL will be the most of any one club in this league, and in the AYL we will see 10 teams represent the club, the 6th most in that league. Having entered our first team in the AYL in the 2005/06 season, we have gradually progressed to now having 2 teams in each age group, a marker of the growth of the club.

We currently have 490 registered players across our U6-U18 age groups, with waiting lists for many of them also well established, a glowing endorsement for the club. Instructions on how to enquire with the relevant age group coaches about joining can be found on our website- Rockleaze Rangers membership applications (pitchero.com)

Our highly successful adult section successfully merged with Henbury FC in April 2024 to form a new club Henbury & Rockleaze FC, based at Arnall Drive, with the first team playing in the Gloucestershire County League. We maintain strong links with the newly formed club and it provides a pathway for our older players to progress from youth football into adult football. Information on the adult teams can be found via their Twitter/X feed @HenburyRocksFC

It is always good to see any parents, carers and coaches who are still keen to dust off the boots and we have a Rockleaze Rangers Veterans team who play their games at St Bedes School. Any enquiries can be directed to veterans@rockleazerangers.com

Finally, we saw some key members of the club move on, hopefully only temporarily, and the club would like to thank in particular Ian Louden, Kevin Williamson and Tom Jordan.
Ian Louden has been part of the club for more than 20 years, helping set up every new U6 intake each September and getting them up and running, and more latterly leading the instigation of the Rockleaze Rangers Inclusive group, who provide opportunities to play football for children who struggle with mainstream sport. The club would like to extend our gratitude to Ian for everything he has done for Rockleaze Rangers, wish him well in his new adventures overseas.

Kevin Williamson will remain involved from afar and has been an integral part of the club’s development for over 10 years, being on the Executive Committee during a large part of that supporting the growth over that time, and Tom Jordan has run arguably the most successful age group team in the history of the junior section, alongside Stu James who will continue to run the team. We wish Tom and Samuel all the best in their next exciting ventures in football.