Chatham Town
“I have grown up in the area as a local lad in
Chatham, I have known Kevin since the age
of 10 growing up playing football together. It
brings great pleasure to be the stadium sponsor
of my local football club. It was nice to see the
popularity of the club increase last year due to
the excellent football being played by the club.
I would like to wish everyone at the club all the
success for the coming season.”
Damien South
expect to rise to 19 next season. Several of
our youth players have made great strides
and can boast first team experience.
Next season we will have one of the
best youth set ups in Kent and that
is a great achievement for all those
involved.
“Progression of youth into
the senior club is critical for any
club that is looking to lay good
foundations and we are no exception.
There is fluidity throughout the club
and managers at all levels liaise to ensure
that the players are encouraged to play at
the highest level possible.
“The first team, reserves and U18s youth team all
train together which encourages harmony and we
ask our senior players to take an active role
taking younger plays under their wing.
This creates a family feel element which
in turn creates a bond which is very
important when young players are
introduced into the senior game.
“We like to consider ourselves a
community club and work closely
with local and national charities to
help make a difference. Our annual
sponsor is Wisdom Hospice who
provide a great service for people in
their time of need. We are in partnership
with a local charity ‘MAPS’ who are great
supporters of the club also.
“We regularly do charitable days at the
club and have raised money for Cancer
Research, Age Concern and One Big
Family to name a few. We recognise the
‘halo effect’ a football club can have
on the local community and whilst
success at the club is important to
us it is equally rewarding when we
see what a difference we can make
to people’s lives by tapping into the
power of sport and community spirit.
“I think our biggest challenge will
be to try and ensure that both success on
the pitch is matched with improvements off
the pitch and vice-versa. It’s a difficult task but
far too often clubs don’t get this right and progression
is halted prematurely. Time will tell and it is critical
that our plans that we introduce now are right
as we don’t want to get caught out like
other clubs have in the past.
“Thinking ambitiously, I would
like the club to be challenging in
the Bostik Premiership both on and
the off the field to ensure that we
are one of the biggest clubs in the
division in five years time. I would
like in excess of 50 teams covering
every age group in all youth teams
for boys and girls and also ladies and
senior teams so we can offer football for
every person no matter what age.”
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