Impetus are exceptionally proud to announce a content partnership with Bure Valley Youth Football Club which has seen us provide some funds in order to provide some all-important new equipment for the club. In this piece to launch the partnership, Ben Gilby spoke to Bure Valley YFC chairman Ted McCarter about the club’s history and fantastic story so far.
Ted began our chat by outlining the club’s history: “Bure Valley was formed in 2015 in Coltishall with two girls’ teams. The facilities in Coltishall had been left empty following the demise of Colt Jags a few years previous. I’d used the pitches for training at a previous club and had them earmarked for when I set up my own club. So having approached Coltishall Sports and Recreation Ground Trust we entered into a partnership. Since then the growth has been far quicker than I ever imagined, with the help of a grant from the Football Foundation we made a real effort to grow the female game locally. We’ve also opened a Wildcats centre supported by The FA which has been a fantastic success, bringing girls from 5 to 11 into the game. We’ve made a commitment to give these girls teams to play in and it’s worked.”
The development of girls’ football took another positive step when Bure Valley entered into a player pathway relationship with Wroxham Women. Ted outlined how that came about: “It all developed through conversations with Lee Robson at Wroxham FC and Rebecca Burton at Wroxham Women. We don’t have an adult section whilst Wroxham didn’t have a female youth section. With us being such close neighbours it made total sense for us to create a complete female pathway from three years old to adult.”
“When our teams reach U16 level, they will start to be coached in partnership with Wroxham in the hope that the girls progress to Wroxham’s development team that will play in Norfolk Women’s and Girls’ Football League (NWGFL), with the most talented players having the opportunity to progress to Wroxham’s first team squad. Wroxham’s coaches will work together with ours to ensure a smooth transition.”
The present pandemic has had a massive impact on Bure Valley.
“We couldn’t complete last season due to lockdown with a similar stop/start season in progress now,” said Ted. “It’s very frustrating for our kids that really miss their football.”
“We’ve had to adapt to FA guidelines with our protocols being probably the most robust. We take it very seriously and have gone above and beyond what is needed to keep everyone as safe as possible. Investments in all cleaning equipment etc have ensured we are ready to go again. Financially it’s been difficult, we lost one or two sponsors but gained others, we have new kits that we can’t use currently which is frustrating. To keep safe and clean it costs money. Money we hadn’t budgeted for. However, we’ve coped and will continue to put safety first.”
Similarly to many other clubs, apart from coronavirus, Bure Valley’s biggest challenges are financial ones: “We need to update and supply new equipment, new kit, update facilities and maintain our pitches,” Ted highlights. “Storage is also an issue, we’ve invested in this but more will be needed to keep up. Also as new teams are formed we need coaches and pitches to play on, we’re lucky in Coltishall to have access to two more pitches that we’ll be looking to use in 2021/22.”
I asked Ted to outline the number of teams that the club has at present and how they are performing: “We have two teams for U9s, U10s, U11s, 2 for U12s, U13s, U14s and U15s all playing League football. We also have a mini kittens group of girls aged four, five and six. Our Wildcats centre also runs throughout the summer. Whilst our focus and ethos isn’t about winning matches and trophies we have had some success, U9s Cup Winners, U15s Cup runners up, U16s league runners up and Cup runners up twice.”
The most important thing at the club right in the near future is “getting our kids back out onto the pitches playing football in a safe environment. If that means just training while tier restrictions exist that’s what we’ll do. As soon as we can play games again we’ll be out there ready to go. The kids are frustrated sat at home as are we but pretty powerless with Covid so dangerous currently.”
In terms of the day to day existence of the club, Ted recognises that: “Obviously we are reliant on our growing coaching team and volunteers, without them we’d be nothing. We try to create a welcoming and family feel to the club which seems to attract parents and players. My wife Emma and I set the club up and take on the day to day running of the club fulfilling many different roles. We dedicate a lot of our time to it but love it.”
“Our aims are to continue to grow. We want to attract more girls from a young age and get them involved in football here at Bure Valley. Our partnership with Wroxham gives any player joining us the opportunity to go all the way.”
“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve achieved so far. Hopefully as our reputation grows we’ll continue to provide a fantastic club for the football journey to start at.”
Ted has high hopes that our partnership will only help that reputation to grow: “On the back of the Wroxham Women’s team partnership I’m absolutely delighted to come on board with Impetus. They have a real passion for the female game not only in the UK but across the world. This fits perfectly with Bure Valley’s efforts to promote the female game within Norfolk and increase girls’ participation. Our partnership with our neighbours Wroxham creates the total female pathway, hopefully Impetus can help us continue the growth with top quality coverage of the female game in our area and spread the word not only locally but across the UK and beyond.”
From Impetus‘ own perspective, we feel it is more important than ever to support girls’ football at the present time. This fantastic partnership allows us to assist a club with equipment and help to spread the word about what they are up to. It also ensures that the club’s youngsters have a platform to discuss their own footballing tales and an opportunity to report on games they play on or the women’s games they watch on TV. Once this pandemic is over, girls will need clubs like Bure Valley YFC and the thousands of other grassroots teams nationwide in order to help connect with their friends again and play the game they love once more.
We will be having monthly catch-ups with Bure Valley YFC and connected to the partnership is the opportunity for the club’s young players to write articles about their club and the matches that they play in with their work being published on Impetus to a worldwide audience.
To find out more about Impetus‘ sponsorships and partnerships with women’s football clubs, visit https://impetus885775742.wordpress.com/partnerships/
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