Helston Athletic v Buckland Athletic

Helston Athletic Football Club - Founded 1896

CLUB HONOURS

Welcome to Kellaway Park, the home of ‘The Blues’ of Helston Athletic Football Club.

The 22/23 season was without doubt the club’s most successful of recent times, if not that of any in the clubs one hundred and twenty seven year history.

Whilst progressing further in The FA Cup than ever before in addition to completing a Cornwall Senior Cup and Western League Les Phillips Cup double exceeded expectations, an early FA Vase exit along with finishing sixth in the league has given room for yet further gains to be achieved.

Away from the flagship the wider club triumphed in three additional county cup competitions whilst finishing as runners up in a further two. Several youth teams were also crowned league and / or league cup champions.

Win or lose the club and town remain proud of everyone who represented Helston Athletic Football Club last season.

As a club we continue to strive for continued improvement both on and off the field of play. Over the forthcoming months we hope the results of the dedication and hard work of those who give up so much of their time will continue to enhance your match day experience whether you are a player, an official or a spectator.

Compliance has become ever more important to help ensure everybody enjoys their football in the safest of environments. Helston Athletic Football Club are therefore pleased to share that it was recently awarded an England Football Accredited Club 3* rating. The award reflects the club’s commitment to the future of football within our local community.

As always, the club remains extremely grateful for the valuable contributions of the numerous organisations, businesses and volunteers who continue to support us. Without your individual support running a successful football club for all ages would be impossible –thank you.

Finally, we hope you enjoy your visit to Kellaway Park today, so much so that you return very soon.

Here’s to another successful year of footballing action and for all things Helston.

Good Afternoon One & All,

When this seasons fixtures were released back in June 23, today was scheduled to be the final Saturday of the season. Following one of the wettest winters on record, the final day of the season for all clubs in promotion and relegation contention has now been pushed back to next Saturday, 27th April. So for what is ‘not' now our final fixture of the 23/24 season, it's a warm welcome to the players, officials and supporters of Buckland Athletic to Kellaway Park. An extended welcome also to our match officials Paul Kempen, Barry Raiker and Andrew Bennett

For those who attended Thursday's derby verses Falmouth Town, a massive thank you for your support. The attendance of 1,179 spectators here at Kellaway Park is a club record for a football match whilst a one goal to nil victory for Matt, Dan and the team very much keeps our title hopes alive. After today we travel to Torpoint Athletic on Tuesday followed by what will now be our final fixture of the season here at ‘Blues HQ’ verses Clevedon a week today.

Turning the attention away from Toolstation Western League action, congratulations to Helston Athletic Veterans who earlier this month won the Cornwall FA Sunday Cup for a second time in three seasons. In the final held at Perranporth FC in extremely windy conditions The Blues held a two goal advantage at the break. This was extended midway through the second half before opponents Speak Out United pulled one back. Helston however held firm to ensure they went on to lift the trophy (pictured)

Staying with County FA Cup Final action, good luck to Helston Women who compete in their third consecutive Women’s county final tomorrow afternoon. In a repeat of last years final Helston opponents are again Liskeard Athletic Women. The venue for the final is Launceston FC, KO 2:00pm.

Not to be outdone by their peers, Helston U18’s have booked their place in the County FA Rathbone Trophy Final courtesy of a single goal to nil win over last season winners Torpoint Athletic. Their opponents in this years final are now confirmed as Falmouth Athletic U18’s. This final is to played at Sticker FC on Sunday 19th May, KO 2:00pm.

With the sun forecast to be shining this afternoon I hope everyone enjoys today’s game, and as always thank you for your support.

Paul Hendy (Chairman)

Saturdays Fixtures

Toolstation Western League Premier Division

Bridgwater United v St Blazey

Brixham v Barnstaple Town

Clevedon Town v Torpoint Athletic

Helston Athletic v Buckland Athletic

Ilfracombe Town v Nailsea & Tickenham

Oldland Abbotonians v Wellington

Saltash United v Street

Shepton Mallet v Falmouth Town

Welton Rovers v Millbrook

Toolstation Western League Division One

AEK Boco v Brislington

Bishop Sutton v Cadbury Heath

Bristol Telephones v Warminster Town

Cribbs Reserves v Bitton

Gillingham Town v Portishead Town

Hengrove Athletic v Shirehampton

Longwell Green Sports v Hallen

Middlezoy Rovers v Radstock Town

Odd Down v Bradford Town

Wells City v Keynsham Town

Wincanton Town v Cheddar

Toolstation Western League

Interest in promotion from the Premier Division of the Toolstation Western League will be extended from the top two places to the top five, in the 2023/24 season. The Football Association have announced that next season, there will be a fourteam Play-Off in each of the sixteen Step 5 divisions, the level of the non-league pyramid occupied by the Western Leagues Premier Division, guaranteeing a second promotion place into the Southern League. Last season, Saltash United were denied promotion by Bristol Manor Farm, who managed to retain their Southern League status, defeating their Western League rivals at the Creek.

The FA’s proposals for promotion and relegation, announced in March 2023, have signalled that the inter-step play off is a thing of the past, with Western League Clubs now competing against each other for a playoff place, subject to their facilities meeting ground grading requirements.

Next season, two sides are set to be relegated from the Southern League Division One South, as the FA seek to increase the divisional size at Step 4 to 22 Clubs per division. The FA’s latest reorganisation is good news for Western League Premier Division Clubs as only one side will be liable for relegation next season. From the 2024/25 season, the FA have announced their intention that four Clubs will be relegated from Southern League Division One South, along with the other seven divisions that cover the country at Step 4.

However, the future of the Western League is uncertain going into the 2024/25 season, with an FA working group currently looking into the future structure of Step 5 and 6 football in the South West, following the collapse of the merger between the South West Peninsula League and the Western League, earlier this year.

Should the FA undertake a reorganisation of football in the South West and create an additional Step 5 Division to address the considerable travel distances Clubs currently face, this may impact both how and how many sides are promoted and relegated across the region.

South West Women’s Regional Football League (Western Div.)

LATEST TABLE

St PIRAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (WEST)

Development 1

League Table 2023/2024

ST PIRAN LEAGUE DIVISION 1 (WEST)

Development II

Table 2023/2024

ST PIRAN LEAGUE DIVISION 1 (WEST)

Blue & White shirts

Blue & White shorts

Blue socks

Kyle MOORE (GK)

Callum MARTINDALE

Dave BARKER

Tyler ELLIOTT

Harrison JEWELL (c)

Jordan BENTLEY

Callum O’BRIEN

Aaron BENTLEY

Baga MARIKO

Steve COLWELL

Sam CARTER

Jordan COPP

Gregory EASTMAN

Rikki SHEPHERD

Curtis DAMERELL

Kai CORNISH

Jamie SIMMONDS

Manager

Matt CUSACK Coach

Physio

Dan HARRISON

Jaimie OSBORNE

Referee

Paul KEMPEN

BUCKLAND ATHLETIC

Yellow shirts

Black shorts

Yellow & Black socks

Tyler COOMBES

Frazer CLARK

Sam MORCOM

Rob FARKINS

Owen STOCKTON

Ben CARTER

Cieran BRIDGER

Ryan BUSH

Jared LEWINGTON

Callum WATSON

Myles JAMES

Teigan ROSENQUEST

Sammy STAYT

Reece SHANLEY

Reece HENDRICKSON

Josh GRANT

Will HALL

Finley HERBERT

George WARREN

Head Coach

Assistant

Assistant

Performance Analyst

Physio

Dan HART

Mark BLACKWELL

Todd HANRAHAN

Shane REAVEY

Paige BURROWS

Assistants

Andrew BARNETT

Barry RAIKER

BUCKLAND ATHLETIC

Buckland Athletic FC was formed in 1977, purely as a junior club. It started life in the Torbay Pioneer League and Sandringham Road was our home pitch. During this time, it was one of the biggest junior clubs in the area, and it won many titles and cups over its early years, including the Devon Youth Cup. The first big decision the club made was to take a team into senior football in the 1987-88 season, and saw us take a place in the Devon & Exeter League, Senior Division Three. Roy Holmes took his Under 18’s side into that division and they were rewarded when they won the league title that season, our first at senior football level. We moved grounds in the 1990-91 season to Decoy Park, which was the season we also won the Wheaton Trophy. Promotions saw us climb into the Premier Division for the 1992-93 season, having again moved, this time to Homers Lane, Kingsteignton.

As mentioned, we have had a number of grounds over our lifetime, starting with council owned pitches at Sandringham Park, Coach Road and then Decoy Park. In 1992-93 we secured the use of Homers Lane in Kingsteignton, and we built that ground up to Devon league standard, which included a small stand, enclosed playing surface and hard standing on three sides. But our big break came in 2003 when we were given the option by WBB to take on South Quarry, on the Torquay side of Newton Abbot, and after a lot of hard work and sweat by a huge number of volunteers, we started life at the newly named Homers Heath for the start of the 2005-06 season, with work on the ground and fabulous clubhouse on-going every season since then and to this day.

A lot of work has been carried out at Homers Heath, including a new covered standing area, which incorporates two new turn-stiles. The ground was fenced in, and an impressive outside toilet block was built. This work allowed the club to achieve a ‘D’ Ground Grade which is good enough for Southern League football. Our new ground at Homers Heath won the SWPL Premier Division best ground award in both 2007-08 and 200809, and then finished runners-up in both 2009-10 and 2010-11. The clubs match-day programme, ‘The Bucks Review’ has also enjoyed success, winning the best programme award in the Devon League on four occasions, and in the SWPL Premier Division, they won that accolade in each of the five seasons we were in that league, and it also finished in sixth place in the final season (2004-05) of the renowned Wirral Programme Club awards, which had over 1100 entries that season.

On the field, we spent eight seasons in the Premier Division of the Devon & Exeter League, winning our first title in the 1994-95 season, under manager’s Nigel Holmes and Roger Madge, who had taken over the reins from Roy Holmes at the start of that season. The second league title was won in the 1999-00 season allowing us to take promotion to the Devon League. We won a number of cup competitions during this time in the Premier Division, including the D & E Premier Division Cup & East Devon Senior Cup.

2000-01 was our first season in the Devon League and we finished the season runners-up to title winners, Willand Rovers. We also made it through to the semi-finals of the Devon Premier Cup in this campaign. We went on to spend seven seasons in the Devon League, with our lowest finish being 13th in 2005-06. Also in our time in this league we were runners-up in the Throgmorton Cup in the 2001-02 season. In the final ever season of the Devon League (2006-07), we did just enough to gain promotion to the newly formed South West Peninsula League, finishing that season in 12th place.

BUCKLAND ATHLETIC

We started life in this newly formed league in the 2007-08 season. We finished that season in 14th place, but manager, Phil Bayliss was building a squad that he felt was good enough to contest for the league title. In the next season we finished in 3rd place, and then our dreams were realised when we won two consecutive titles, as well as winning the Throgmorton Cup (2009-10). Then in the 2011-12 season, we applied to the Western league, knowing that a top two finish was needed to take promotion, well it was achieved, but we did relinquish our title, with Bodmin Town coming out on top, but promotion was won.

In our first season in the Western League we finished in tenth place in the table, but we did win the Hospitality Award and the Programme Award. The 2013-14 season, the team finished the season in 11th place. It was another great season in the history of this great club when the 1st team finished in runners-up spot in the Western League Premier Division in 2014-15, the highest finish in the club’s history in the non-league pyramid. We also won the Premier Division best programme award for the third consecutive season, making it eight consecutive league wins in the last eight seasons. The 1st Team, led by Adam Castle finished in 4th Place in the Western League Premier Division, but not good enough to reach our goal of promotion in the 2016/17 season. However, his team made it through to the 6th Round of the FA Vase that year, our best achievement in this competition to date. In this season, we also won the hospitality award and best programme awards.

It was a fifth-place finish in the 2017-18, but we did win the Les Phillips Cup for the first time. However, it will be the fixture congestion at the end of the campaign which will be remembered with the number of games our lads had to play, having played fifteen games in twenty-four days. We also won the best programme award again for a fifth time in six seasons. The following season the club finished in ninth place in the Premier table, and again won the best programme award.

In February 2020, the club were devastated when we lost our beloved Chairman, Roy Holmes. A pinnacle figure in our club’s history who sadly was taken from us too soon after a battle with Cancer. This was made only worse when a month later, the world was consumed by the Coronavirus pandemic which resulted in two disbanded seasons, during the years 2019/20 and 2020/21. During this time, the club went through arguably it’s biggest transition off the field, with John Piller and Nigel Holmes taking the reigns as CoChairman, Roy’s wife, Christine stood down from her duties as Club Secretary and former Junior Secretary, Judd Barker took on the role as Club Secretary and Vice Chairman. In addition to this, following advice from the Football Association, Buckland Athletic FC became Buckland Athletic FC Ltd, registered as a company limited by guarantee and therefore the creation of a Board of Directors was formed. The Board of Directors are John Piller, Nigel Holmes, Judd Barker, Adam Castle, Simon Dungey, Simon Glanfield and Justin Osborne.

Once football returned in the 2021/22 season, we finished in 11th position, which was below our expectations and aspirations as we looked to continue to climb the non-league pyramid. In April 2022, Dan Hart was appointed as 1st Team Head Coach, following Paul Froude’s reign and with a strong coaching background, Dan hopes to take our club to new heights and new experiences by achieving promotion to the Southern League Division One. In his first season, he has instilled an ethos of commitment within his squad and is building the foundations to what hopes to be a history making year in 2023/24.

Player Profiles...

Kyle MOORE (GK). KylejoineduspartwaythroughtheseasonfromPlymouth Parkwayandwaspartoftheteamthatwonbacktobackpromotions.Anexcellent shotstopperanddistributoroftheball,he’lladdgreatvaluetoournewcampaign.

Jordan BENTLEY. Jordanentershis3rdseasonwiththeclub.Hecontinuestobea dominantCBwhocanplaywithindifferentformations.andwaspartofourcupdoublesuccessinthepreviouscampaign.

Aaron BENTLEY. Aaronentershis3rdseasonwiththeclub.Heisatechnicallyefficientdefenderwithattributestoplayinotherpositions.Aaronhasanexcellentfootballpedigreeandhasoperatedathigherlevels.

Harrison JEWELL (Capt) Anexceptionalseasonlastyear,HputinmanyM.O.Mperformancesandwon2ofourendofseasonawards.AninfluentialCBwhohasalso beenmadecaptainforthiscampaign.

Callum O’BRIEN. Athrowbacktohowdefendersusedtobe,nononsenseandhard hitting.Lethalatsetplaysandcanplayonthedeckaswell.Deceptivelyquickover 10-15metres.

Callum MARTINDALE. Callumisatechnicallygiftedleftbackwhohasbrought addedqualitytoourlefthandside.CallumhasenjoyedspellsatTauntonTown,PlymouthParkwayandSaltashUnitedwherehepreviouslyworkedwiththemanager. Expecttoseehimimpactinggamesatbothendsofthepitch.

Dave BARKER. Hassetthestandardforrightsidedfullbacks/wingbacksoverthe pastfiveyears.Barksregularlychipsinwithdoublefigureseachseason,aremarkablestatgivenhisposition.Heactuallygrabbeda90thminutewinnerhereforhis formerclubSaltashlastseason.Hewillbringvalueatbothendsofthepitchwith addedleadershipqualities.

Tom PAYNE. Payneyhadanexceptionalcampaignlastseason.Hechippedinwith 15goalsand15assistsfrommidfield,andscoredinthefirstofourtwocupfinal triumphslastcampaign.

Greg EASTMAN. GregjoinsusfromWadebridgeTownandhasalreadyimpressed onthetrainingground.Aleftfootedtechnicianadeptatplayingasabasemidfielder orasanumber8.Wehavehighhopesforhimmovingforward.

Jacob SMITH. Theyoungestofoursummersignings.Playedthemostnumberof gamesforTorpointlastseasonasabasemidfielder.Hasworkedwiththemanager beforeatPlymouthParkway.Hasputinsomeimpressiveperformancesinpreseasonandcontinuestoadoptandexcellentapproachonthetrainingground. Stevie COLWELL. Steviehasoperatedathigherlevelshavingpreviouslyplayed withWeymouth,Tivertonandmorerecently,PlymouthParkway.Aballplaying midfielderwithexceptionaltechnicalandtacticalquality.

Tyler ELLIOTT. Tyisaversatileplayerthatcanoperateinmanypositionswithin theteam.Lastseasonhewasregularlyimpactinggamesfromwiderpositions.He hasaterrificworkethicandappetiteforthegame.

Kai CORNISH. Kaihasnowcompletedhisuniversitystudiesandthereforefeelslike anewsigning.Anaccomplisheddribblerthatcanimpactsgamesinthefinalthird. Wearehopefulitwillbeabigcampaignforhim.

Sam CARTER. Cart’sseasonhadliftoffaroundSeptemberlastcampaign.Hefound himselfamongstthegoalsandassistsfromanattackingmidfieldposition.Extremelyathletic,Cartswillbelookingtobuildonhissuccessfulcampaignlasttime around.

Jordan COPP. Jordanisoneofthemosttechnicallygiftedplayersthemanagerhas workedwith.HebringsbagsofexperienceandpedigreehavingoperatedatStep2 withWeymouth.Anattackingplayerofexceptionalqualitywhocanoperatewide orcentrally.Hecreated18assistsinthelastcampaign.

Rikki SHEPHERD. Rikkiisalightningquickstrikerwhofinishedtopscorerlast campaignwith26goals.Heprovedabiggameplayerscoringinbothofourcup winningfinals.Weareexpectingmorebigthingsthisseason.

Jamie SIMMONDS. Themanagerhonestlydoesn’tknowhowthisladgetsthrough eachday!Asidefromthat,heisstartingtoflourishasafootballerinthisenvironmentandismoreregularlyimpactinggamesinoffensivepositions.Jamieisoneof thebesttechniciansintheteamandweareexpectingbigthingsfromhimthisseason.

Curtis DAMERELL. AnothermanagerdescribedCurtisas‘thecompletenumber9’. HewasjointtopscorerintheWesternLeaguelastseason.Curtishashadaslower starttothepre-seasonduetoinjury.Howeverheisnowwellontheroadtorecoveryandisgettingbetterallthetimeonthetraininggroundandinmatches.Expect himtoaddhugevaluetothefrontlinethisseason.

Helston Athletic is a well established Community based football club offering all that visit a warm and friendly welcome. The Club’s ground, Kellaway Park, offers great playing and clubhouse facilities.

In recent years, the Club has been successful both on and off the pitch and, as a result, we are now looking for additional people to join our team. Not the one ON the pitch but the one OFF it. The team behind the team, if that makes sense.

We are looking for anyone that feels that they can contribute whether it be in a professional, administrative or hands on role.

With matchdays becoming ever more popular, we are looking to volunteers to support our hospitality team, stewards, selling draw tickets, working on the gates or even just helping to tidy up after the game. You’ll get to watch the football free of charge but better still, you’ll be joining a small team of dedicated volunteers that make Helston Athletic Football club extra special.

If you can help for only a few hours per month, that would be fantastic.

If you feel this could be for you, please email chairman Paul Hendy at paul.m.hendy@btinternet.com or call him on 07740 812555.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

A guide to away games this season in the Western League Premier Division

(Mileages obtained from theaa.com route planner)