I’m writing this newsletter as Seaford freezes in our lengthy cold snap. Despite the weather, we have managed to continue to put youth games on right through December, and still have a number of teams with matches scheduled this Sunday (18 December). After that, players, parents and coaches will get a well earned rest until the new year!
This term started in the worst possible way for the club, with the loss of our U14 lead coach, Perry Kingsland. Perry would be so proud of how his team and their coach Finlay have responded. Not only have the boys kept playing, but they have played some brilliant football and achieved some excellent results.
Indeed the Youth Coaches WhatsApp group has been buzzing every Sunday with match reports from teams across the youth section who have represented our club and our town outstandingly well, both at home and across Sussex. I’m particularly delighted that our girls section continues to grow. We broke a club record for the girls this month, with four consecutive age groups playing matches on the same weekend, from U8 to U11.
We are hoping to add an older age group league team next season, as well as a U8 league team to complement the current U9s-U11s. To make this happen, we need more girls of all ages to get involved! Parents of any girl who might be interested in giving football a try are welcome to contact me or Sarah Scott, our Director of Women and Girls Football, to arrange to come down to one of our friendly and fun training sessions.
The boys/mixed teams also continue to grow across every age group. We have entered two league teams at U7 this season, up from one last season, and our fledgling U6s have already played their first tournament and did coach Wes and the club proud! There is at least one boys/mixed league team at every age group, from U7-U17, with most age groups having multiple teams. Several age groups have adopted a ‘one squad, two teams’ structure, with all the kids training together and many being dual signed to play for teams in both the Mid Sussex and Sunday Sussex leagues.

I am keen to encourage this structure across more age groups, however to make this happen requires large numbers of coaches and admin volunteers. If you think you might be able to help your age group in either a coaching or admin capacity, I would always be delighted to hear from you. As you probably know, the entire club runs on volunteer efforts, from the Committee down.
I would also want to highlight the achievements this term of the adult All Inclusive players, who are romping away with their league. Many of the club’s Adult AI team have been picked to represent Sussex, and many of these star players are former AI youth players. The current AI youth section continues to thrive, with teams at U16 and U12 ages, and we hope the U16 league will resume shortly.
To everyone’s frustration, there has been a delay getting match kits to those teams who are due them. We think these issues are now resolved, and expect that all those teams will have new match kits early in the new year. We will be working hard to make sure that the teams who need new match kits for next season have them in good time for the season to start in September 2023.
In the meantime, it has been great to see teams training in the new training tops, which have been helping to turn the town red on Saturdays. If any registered player does not yet have a training top (the T shirts with ‘STFC’ on the back), please ask your age group lead coach to let me know. We are also taking orders (by email to me, address below) if anyone would like to buy additional tops.
A highlight coming up early in the new year is the club’s first youth winter futsal tournament, to be held at Bede’s School with our partners Swerve Soccer on 10-11 February. As this is an indoor event, places are extremely limited, so each STFC age group is only able to enter one team with a squad size of 10. This of course means that age group coaches need to make difficult decisions as to which kids get to play this time. We would ask for parents’ support for these decisions, along with all the other decisions our coaches make each week. I see how hard the coaches work to make the right decisions for each of the kids and their teams as a whole. We are all human of course and do make mistakes, and where parents have concerns, we would ask that you speak to the coaches and / or contact me by WhatsApp or email.
It is also very important that all parents and kids know what to do if they have any safeguarding or welfare concerns. Our welfare leads are:
Karen Ellingham (club) – 07878 969 760
Debby Horscroft (youth) – Number available from all Youth Coaches / Youth Committee
Any safeguarding or welfare issues can and should be raised immediately with Karen and / or Debby. There is no such thing as a ‘silly question’ in this context. If you have any concerns about the welfare of a youth player, we want to hear about them ASAP. Karen and Debby are both very experienced and will provide the necessary advice to address any concerns. Issues can also be raised with me as Youth Chair and / or Sarah as our girls lead, if parents prefer.

We continue to seek to build links between the youth section and our senior teams. The senior teams have had a difficult start to the year – the women’s team had to disband as it did not have enough players to make up a team consistently, and the men have not been able to repeat their form that took them to the play offs last season. The men’s team is at home at 11am on Boxing Day, and then has home games at 2pm or 3pm every Saturday in January. It would be fantastic to see kids (and parents!) in STFC colours to support the team at all these games. Families will also be able to enjoy our newly refurbished clubhouse, which is now providing drinks (of all kinds) at games, and we hope to be offering hot food again very soon.
It was great to see so many of our parents at the parents’ evenings which took place across the term, for almost every team. We will be holding these at the beginning of each season, but of course if issues come up during the season you should speak to your age group coaches and / or myself and Sarah as appropriate.
At the club level, our Chairman, Tom Webster, has decided to stand down from the club as a result of his other commitments. Tom has been a passionate supporter of the youth section throughout his time in charge, and it is thanks to him and our former Youth Chairman Michael Greve that both girls’ and boys’ football is flourishing at the club. Tom was particularly committed to the club supporting the Womens’ Euros, which he correctly predicted would lead to a huge growth of interest in football in girls locally. We thank Tom for all his efforts on behalf of the kids of Seaford during his time as our Chairman. We expect to be announcing who will be taking over from Tom in the new year.
Finally, and perhaps most excitingly, we are delighted that our partnership with SportsCool Brighton means that we can expand our Seal Pups section for the youngest children to cover 2 and 3 year olds. The new Seal Pups sessions will be starting on 7 January, a session each for 2-3 and 4-5 year olds, initially indoor at Lower School and then outdoors at Bowden House. Please email steve.s@sportscool.org for more information or go to https://sportscoolbrighton.schoolipal.co.uk/ and click on ‘Seal Pups Football Coaching’ – the first three sessions in the new year are free of charge!
Wishing you all a peaceful and restful Christmas when it comes, and a happy new year full of STFC football
Steve Broach Youth Chair Seaford Town FC
Steve.Broach@seafordtownfc.com
07879 638 1023