Success for Under 15's.

Basingstoke Town Colts is a non-profit making children's football club run entirely by volunteers.

No advertising.

I have been interested in the highs and lows of BTFC for a number of years and have kept an eye on the fourms. I dont claim to be BTFC number one supporter but there does seem to be a small few that feel they have to continuly hound and write negitve posts directed at the people who run the club.

And before you post back saying which part of my post, or I have a right to question, etc. Its not just one post its the continued negitivety and badgering of the people who put all the time and energy into the running of the club.

Sorry for the rant and well done to the young boys who won the Hampshire cup.

To win the Hants cup 2 years on the spin is a tremendous feat.
Well done lads!

The youth set up at the club is a very important issue (as I know you also believe) and you are right that it needs a consistent approach. Either we follow the progress of the teams as they go through the season or we don't. We either want people to be interested or we don't. simples.

There is a clear impression of "crowing" here and a clear conflict of interest with the youth setup being devised and run by the hierarchy of only one of the many local youth clubs that play in the PHYL, the players of that club dominating, and the advertising of other teams playing under that banner.

This situation needs to be addressed in order that access to the town's senior team becomes CLEARLY open to the other 85% or whatever of young players in the town who do not wish to play for the Basingstoke Town Colts.

Those within who are upset by these questions should really be asking themselves some of their own, I'm sad to say. It will be great if they can get this right, all I ever got was at best indifference and at worst obstruction, mainly from those who are now in charge!

To clarify, at present we have a development centre whereby we coach and develop players aged 6-12 via the clubs Centre For Elite Development. The players in the CFED are drawn from grassroots teams across Basingstoke and the surrounding areas. Basingstoke Town Colts do provide players at present for the u15/16 elite teams as a bridge between grassroots football and the full time academy as has been the case for the last 2 seasons.

However, from next season our new youth structure will be drawing on players from our existing player pool for age groups u7-u12's as well as holding trials for new additions to the current squads.

With regards to the new age groups being formed (u13-u18) we have a new recruitment programme for players in these age groups open to players across ALL grassroots football with trial dates to be released at the presentation evening.

The new Basingstoke Town FC development sides will play in the Junior-Premier League and join a list of Premier League, Football League and Conference teams playing in this exciting, highly rated youth league.

By creating these new teams we have now created a pathway for players from u7's through to the full time academy and hopefully into the first team.
We are not looking to take players away from grassroots football. We are providing an additional training programme and a set of fixtures to further aid in their development and bring local talent together for the benefit of the players and the club – to use a quote from the Junior-Premier League website -
“The league is aimed at clubs who wish to develop their players through a best with best ethos.”

I know these things need to be paid for, but let's hope it develops talent that will benefit BTFC and is not just another way of raising money by recruiting all that apply.