“Sunday 3rd November 2013 will probably be a day to remember for 10 young boys as they took their first steps on what will hopefully be a long journey in this game we all love. The boys certainly didn’t look like that have never played together before and put in a very impressive display. A huge well done to Max, Finley and Archie who all scored goals today. Also a big well done to Taevon in goal as well as Cian, Cameron, Luke, Alessio, Kieran and little Fin Mac. You all did really well today and should be very proud of yourselves. We will now look to get this team up and running with a few more players required and then we require a coach with parental support, which hopefully will get over the next few weeks.”
The above article was written by Adam Chapman, Mini Soccer Programme Coordinator for Gedling Southbank on 4th November 2013 and recorded the 1st game of the present U17 team. The parent who volunteered to coach was me. Well, how could I refuse not to volunteer? It had taken a year to get to this point with my 7-year-old boy. My son had been training with various other clubs to no avail for a year asking me repeatedly “Dad, Dad, when can I play in a team?”. This was the opportunity, the start of the journey, and almost 10 years of affiliation with Gedling Southbank.
Our first league game was a 10–0 defeat. After this things could surely only get better and they have. Over the years we have survived the decimation of the squad through the loss of the initial squad to the U8 first team and similarly to a newly created team at U10 level. At this age the club had three teams of the same age. We, the Whites, are the only team remaining. What have we done to survive? Since our creation, we have never actively had to advertise for players, have never refused a player based on gender, race or ability and now have a very tightly knit squad of U17’s playing and holding their own in an U18 league.
In our history we have finished runners up in the league three times, recovered from our biggest defeat of 21 – 0, recorded our biggest victory of 15-1 and beat Arnold Town, a team full of players who had left our team the previous close season at U16 level, 10-0. What a sweet moment that was. Just goes to show the grass is not always greener. As Adam hoped for in 2013, for some it has been a long journey in this game we all love and with our trend of gaining moderate success in waves of two years, our admission as an U18 team in an U18 league for the 2023/24 season can be one we are all looking forward to.
The following stats are applicable to Gedling Southbank White U17, to end March 2023:
Mark Jackson
White U17
