Hoddesdon Town
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Hoddesdon Town
FOOTBALL CLUB
H
oddesdon Town FC was
famously the first club
to win the FA Vase in
1975 and is celebrating
the 40th anniversary of that success
this year. We caught up with their
Chairman, Roger Merton MBE, to find
out how the club is getting along at the
moment.
He told us, “We’ve been having a
difficult season on the field but we look
forward and April the 19th is the 40th
anniversary of when we became the
first team to win the FA Vase in 1975.
We’re inviting all the players that
are still around to come up and
have a lunch to celebrate with
the Mayor of Broxbourne.
The FA is hoping to send
someone down with the
trophy itself and we’ve
been able to invite
some of our long term
supporters as well.
We’re planning on
having an exhibition
game as well so it
promises to be a
great event.
This
season
we’re looking to
pick up some points
over our remaining
games. We want to
consolidate ourselves
in the Premier Division
with a view to pushing
on over the summer. There
have been some games where
we’ve been a little unlucky but
that’s football at any level.
We’ve got 29 youth teams now,
starting at U5’s right through to U18s,
and that’s a major part of our plans for
the future. You’re never sure how many
players will make the step up to senior
football but from what I’ve seen and
heard we’re hopeful that we’ve some
exciting prospects coming through to
give a boost to our senior section.
Our policy with the reserves it to
blood youngsters to make sure that our
youth is provided with a clear transition
into the first team. We have also set
up a girl’s side now as well. They are
just training at the moment and we’re
pleased with the level of interest that
we’ve had.
W e
have plans to
put in an
extra stand at the ground with 50 seats in
the medium term. That is what we need
to enable us to go into Step 4. Otherwise
we have everything in place to progress
with just a few cosmetic items to be
done to qualify. Obviously then it will
be a case of qualifying through our
league position.
I’d like to think that with what we’re
building now we’ll have a team in place
to push for promotion to the next level
within the next five years. We’ve got a
very successful club programme and are
well supported by the local community
with advertising boards around the
ground which is a major boost for
us.
One of the biggest
challenges that we face as
a club is consolidating
our position in the
Premier Division in
order to allow us
to move forwards
and eventually
upwards.
We
have
some
difficulty with
sharing
our
ground
with
the cricket club
that means we
have to play
our early games
away from home
and we’re looking
for a solution to
that problem. I
think that the keys
to our progress will
include retaining our
current group of players
and hopefully adding to the
pool that we have by bringing
young players through our youth
system.”
Hoddesdon Town Club Info - www.hoddesdontownfc.co.uk - Twitter : @HoddesdonTownFC- Founded 1879
42 Issue 54