Chairman's Report
SCSFA Chariman's Report Seasons 2019-22
So we come to the end of a crazy 3 seasons when so little and yet so much has happened.
So where to start? Joint National champions & a season incomplete (19-20), a full season lost (20-21) and then a full season just completed (21-22).
Congratulations firstly must go to the U16 girls rep team under the continued guidance of Julie Bowker who went on to reach the national final just before Covid struck. Then the season was stopped and during a temporary ‘window’ a date was set until Lancashire then went into tier 3 lockdown and the game could not be played. ESFA eventually decided it could not be rearranged and we were declared Joint National Champions! Congratulations to all involved and to Julie who had lost the Girls national final just a couple of years prior to this.
Covid put an end to all our other activities that season (19-20) as all competitions had to be cancelled, both our own County cups and the South-West leagues. Such a disappointment for all concerned after much work had been done previous to the pandemic.
Season ‘20-21 looked as though was going to start so much preparatory work was started and all cup competitions and affiliations completed, even a couple of games were played until bang, everything put on hold again! We spent a long time not knowing if we would restart or not but eventually everything cancelled again.
But fortunately we have been able to get back to normal this season,,,at last! It’s not been a very successful season with results for our County rep teams but at least it was a restart. Disappointments in both the National and the South-West cups as we did not manage to progress very far. However, thanks to both Niall Carr with the boys u16 and again to Julie with the girls.
A very big disappointment is that Julie has decided after many years to step down from leading the girls’ teams. She has done a great job with giving our u16 girls such great experiences with several South-west championships, a National cup runners-up, a National Winners as well as 2 other semi-finals. A great achievement and she will be difficult to replace. Thank you Julie.
As a County SFA we offer a good range of football competitions for our young people and it is important that we recognize the continued voluntary efforts of individuals on running and organizing these competitions. We thank Somerset FA, particularly Aaron Clements who was ably supported by his colleagues with the Primary schools competitions in January this year.
And of course, as ever to Dave Pavey who continues to oversee the competitions ensuring finals get completed successfully. Competitions has been a very tricky and time-consuming job these last few years with Covid creating a lot more work and sometimes for no final ending. Thanks also to our administrator Jessamine for her contribution to the successful running of the cup competitions both at the finals days along with Dave, and with the various admin support she does.
A big thank you to Weston College, Bridgwater & Taunton College and Millfield school for hosting various finals for us. This year’s organization took a bit more than usual with 3 venues and various dates and changes, but we got there in the end and everything was completed, albeit over three weeks.
Relationships and partnerships are key requirements in running a successful County schools FA. Be it facility and venue use like those already mentioned with the Colleges/schools and local clubs, and also our positive relationship with Somerset FA which continues to help us implement our activities successfully and I would like to thank John Pike and his team for their continued support.
And a quick congratulations to Taunton Area U15’s and Yeovil Area U13’s who became South-West champions. Good to see Somerset leading the way again.
So the end of a busy time. Thank you to everyone, even if not mentioned above, for your continued support & work to keep us providing the football opportunities that we have been able to do so far. It is clear that Somerset schools are indebted to many people and I thank you for your contributions, whether it be over the past 50 years, 15 years or 5 months.
Many thanks to you all for your continued support,
Richard
Richard Pryor,
Chairman '19-22