Following his first season as Club Chairman, Paul Richardson has given his assessment of how it’s been for himself within the role.

Richardson said:

“Like many, this has probably been the most frustrating season I can ever remember personally as a coach and as a volunteer within the club. This is such a shame because it’s also contained so many remarkable milestones and memories.

I’ve sat and pondered why so many people give up valuable family hours to enable so many of the young children within our community the chance to play sport. This season, I feel like, as a committee, we’ve been inundated with behavioural incidents which is very alarming since half the season the pitches were under water! Coaches are the backbone of any football club and the majority volunteer because, like so many parents, they’d like their own child to join a team.

All of a sudden, they become a role model, head coach, child minder, rule enforcer and a focus for criticism from everyone who could do a better job if they only had the time to do it themselves. This season, I’ve had coaches in tears seeking support and reassurances along with also having to log a complaint with the police after an unsavoury incident after a game where I had to intervene. Yet our volunteers come back week after week with little thanks or reward to ensure so many children continue to enjoy the game we all love.

Every one of us has a part to play in ensuring everyone’s journey throughout football is one that is positive and rewarding. A thank you or a helping hand to put the equipment and nets up before a game or helping tidy up afterwards. Every little bit helps to show our amazing volunteers that their efforts are appreciated and we don’t take their time for granted.

For me, the key word is respect. We don’t have to agree with everything all of the time and emotion plays a massive part in sport. However, we can always remain respectful and have the uncomfortable discussions in a respectful manner. Those discussions are often best left 24hrs after the emotion has gone and our children aren’t sat waiting in the car listening to their coach being criticised for getting a refereeing decision wrong.

I often say when I coach myself to only focus on the parts of the game I can control which are my effort, position, decision making and attitude. If I get all of those bits right and so does everyone else, we have a better opportunity to get the result we hope for. We’re a team and if we all work together with a common aim then anything becomes possible.

Obviously, it’s not all doom and gloom and there’s been lots of positives too especially from the charity side of the club. Shane has been busy gaining funding and delivering community engagement sessions and support work with the offering of various training courses being rolled out soon too. We’ve seen improvements to the facilities and machinery at Kinloss along with the much anticipated and needed development works now starting on Bude Park.

The biggest celebratory fist pump from myself came when we were finally granted access to Kingswood Academy enabling us to move away from the temporary site of Oak Road. I believe it managed to fulfil ten league games before spending four months under water. The amount of hours spent in meetings with the local councillors and the facility management company, emails and the gathering of evidence to support our case to use the site was ridiculous. I’m truly grateful for those who supported and made the time to attend those meetings with me. I don’t think we’d have finished the season without the use of Kingswood Academy.

Of course, there’s been the success of football as we’ve seen 47 teams established, hundreds of goals scored, great celebrations, teams reaching cup finals, winning promotion and finishing their first ever season! There were hundreds of smiling faces and I dare say tears too. I know I had a tear when my daughter scored her first goal and won her first trophy with her team. There are many memories to cherish and stories to tell along with so many new friends made and jokes shared.

The future? One job always leads to another and, as we continue to grow, I’m sure you’re all well aware we still have a shortage of pitches. Development of facilities will be the main focus of resources this coming year and we look to give Kinloss the best opportunity of fulfilling as many scheduled games as possible. I’m also looking at ways to support and offer mentoring to our coaches to ensure they are equipped as much as possible for the challenges they’ll likely face within their volunteer coaching roles.

I pray for sunshine this weekend as I know how hard Stu Armstrong and his team have worked to pull everything together for our annual community fun day. It’s promising to the best one yet and Stu really does put a lot of time into planning and organising these events, so please any volunteers to assist on the day would be very great. I’ll be found on the BBQ flipping burgers whilst I try not to burn the sausages!!

Finally, we have our managers/coaches meeting on Monday night at Grandale 8pm where I openly invite everyone to attend. I’ll be there to answer questions regarding all things football related from training to fixtures, finances and future plans. I hope you’ve all enjoyed your 2023/24 season and you’re able to find the time to relax, recharge and enjoy family holidays before the season hits us again.”