TLA Sport

with Roger Jackson Please email full details to sport@thelocalanswer.co.uk

What goes into making a successful, well-run football club?

Good players, obviously, that goes without saying; a good manager, too, as well as a hardworking, supportive chairman.

And while the players, manager and chairman are vital components in the make-up of any football club, they’d all be the first to say that there are many, many others who are needed to progress a football club, especially one the size of Bourton Rovers.

Step forward Kim Baldwin, Bourton’s club secretary, match secretary, programme editor and child welfare officer.

The just-turned 40-year-old also does many other jobs for a club that are a huge part of her life and also her partner Ian Close’s life.

It was through her partner that she first became involved with the club.

“He was a midfielder for Bourton,” she said. “When we first met he told me that he played football on a Saturday and in the summer he played cricket on a Saturday. He said that wasn’t going to change!”

And that’s certainly never been a problem for Kim, who in recent years has thrown herself into all things Bourton Rovers.

“I had a break after Ian stopped playing,” she explained. “When he played I was just a supporter but once we started going back about five or six years ago I’ve become far more involved.”

And that’s something of an understatement because she reckons she devotes some 15 to 20 hours a week to the football club and that doesn’t include watching games, which some weeks can be as many as three.

“I wash the kit, I lay out the kit

Kim Baldwin on matchdays, I do all the paperwork, I take the matchday photos,” she said with a laugh. “I do all the donkey work, all the stuff behind the scenes.”

She clearly loves doing it, too. And this season she’s loving it just that little bit more because the club have made a solid start in the 19-strong Division One of the Hellenic League.

Last season was a bit of a struggle – they managed only 11 points all season – but they’d matched that tally well before the end of October this time around.

“The aim is to finish top of the bottom half or bottom of the top half,” said Kim.

“If we can finish mid-table that would be a really good season considering where we were last season.

“This season we’ve completely rebuilt the squad, we signed 25 new players.”

Mike Connolly took over as manager a few weeks ago. He was previously assistant to CJ Price and was at Charlton Rovers last season, but since joining Bourton has brought a number of players with him to the club.

“We’ve still got a lot of last season’s players as well,” said Kim, a former Chipping Campden School pupil who has lived in Stow for the past 12 years.

“We run a reserve team who play in Division Two South of the Hellenic League and we’ve also got a veterans’ team.”

The veterans’ team don’t play in a league, although that may soon change, and there are also plans afoot to field a women’s team.

“That’s something we’re going to try to do for next season,” Kim said. “Even if we don’t join a league, we’ll train and play a few friendlies.”

So will Kim play?

“No,” she said with a laugh, before adding, “I’ll do all the paperwork, wash the kit, all the backroom stuff.”

That will only increase her workload, of course, a workload that includes looking after a thriving youth section that runs teams from under-6 through to under-16.

And the remarkable thing is that once the summer comes around, there is no let-up for Kim because she is just as much involved with Bourton Vale Cricket Club, a club that Ian still plays for, as she is Bourton Rovers during the winter months.

“I’m the club scorer,” she said with another laugh.

She’s also the club’s results secretary, but it’s fair to say that it’s as a scorer that she’s really come to prominence and it’s something she wants to pursue more and more.

“I want to score an international game,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be England and it can be any format, men or women, I just want to do one game.”