The following originally appeared in the match day programme for the Farnham Town game;
“Binfield FC offer a very warm welcome to everyone for today’s Isthmian Pitching In South Central League fixture against Farnham FC.
Firstly, I would like to take the opportunity of congratulating the Chairman, Players, Officials and Supporters of Farnham on winning the Isthmian South-Central Division this season. A significant achievement at the best of times, Farnham have absolutely knocked it out of the park this season and they fully deserve all the credit that is due to them. We wish you all the very best for next season, where I understand the ambition is to continue up the footballing pyramid, and I’m sure they will be there or thereabouts come April 2026. Very well done to everyone – a super achievement!!!!
The Moles come into the last day of the season on the back of another busy week of football. The lads have certainly put in a shift as they are playing 3 games over 5 days and the squad is getting tested to the max. Playing the league’s convincing championship winners is a fitting way to end to our season which in the main, has been an extraordinarily positive and memorable one.
I would like to put on record my sincere thanks to all the players who have represented Binfield FC this past season. It’s so good to see a significant number of players returning to the club from the previous season and I for one, would like to see that replicated when we return to league action in early August. To Ross, Bully, Bowes, Rhys, Shal, Becka and Carl, we can’t thank you enough for your monumental efforts in securing our status for next season. Not appropriate to write everything down here in a match day programme, but when we set our targets for this campaign, I think it’s safe to say that you guys have absolutely nailed it. The great escape of 2024 saw the club win only 8 games across the whole season and somehow Ross and the team kept the club in the division with literally a last-minute goal in our final game. We come into today’s fixture with an eye on 20 plus wins under our belts for the season, and we can all count on two hands, those close games that could have also added to our winning total. Add to this, our hugely impressive run in the league cup where we reached that semi-final against Billericay and some excitement in our “not long enough” FA Cup run, the club can rightly look back with some real pride.
Whilst on the theme of thanks, I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to our wonderful 1st Team Match Day & Fixture Secretary and part time chauffer Rob Sutton. Rob has made a huge contribution to our 1st Team operation this season and for me is the club signing of the year. Keiran continues to support Rob behind the scenes, and whilst we don’t see him as often as we used to, we are nonetheless hugely grateful for what he does around the whole club and not just for the 1st Team – a statement that applies to many of our amazing club volunteers.
Our media Team continues to be relentless in their dedication in creating such quality content across all our digital platforms. Whether it’s photos from Daisy and Andrew Spiers, media posts across all our socials, together with management and player interviews, programme design and creation, Ollie Cherrill has completely crushed it for all of us across the whole season. His high pitched “girlie celebration” when Ethan Gold scored that infamous late winner on a dark Wednesday in Guernsey will be a memory that I shall take to the grave. What a late night out that was – so drunk and late for school was Jamie Hilton, (legend has it) that he got expelled – worse still, he’s still suffering the effects of alcohol poisoning to this day, as he JUST CAN’T STAY ON HIS FEET .
The media guys have helped capture some truly memorable and spectacular moments throughout the season – all of these can be found on our hugely impressive and informative website – which has now become ingrained into club culture. Andrew Spiers has worked tirelessly all season to deliver a club website that we all rely on and one that we can all be truly proud of!!! Thank you, Andrew.
Our home fixture matchday team of volunteers deserve our special thanks as they have consistently come together all season to help deliver a great footballing experience for opponents, officials, team members, visitors and supporters. Whether its Car Parking, Turnstile’s, Stewarding, food provision, bar, public announcing, programme creation, football web pages, kit washing, clubhouse prep, food ordering, bar stock, changing room cleaning – the list goes on. I haven’t even mentioned the Pitch maintenance, line painting, grass cutting, bin collections blah blah – there’s a monumental amount of effort that goes into putting the games on – not just for the 1st Team, but for all our 39 plus teams across the whole club. 1st Team Hall of Famers are Alan & Jamie, John Blamire, Oliver Pike, Simon, Stuart, Steve, Andrew, Owen, Dave J, Helen, Becky, Luke, Dave, Balders, Lisa P, Chris, Steve G, Kelly, Jack C, Nigel, Ian, Ange, Den, Ashley, Paige, Craig, Lewis – I could go on (and likely will in a different club setting later on in the summer as a number of people on this list deserve a whole page of their own) but putting these amazing people and the whole club into context – we are blessed to have so many people working together to make it all work for our 1st Team.
When our boys’ put on the Binfield shirt and represent their club, they are representing not just themselves and their families or teamates, but they are representing a whole group of dedicated people who give up so much of their time to make our football club such an important part of everyone’s lives. I’m proud of everyone who’s been involved with our great football club this season – thank you for coming together and making Binfield Football Club such a special COMMUNITY Club.
Life is all about the “journey” and the experiences that we all share together – let’s not worry too much about the “destination” as this will take care of itself if we all stick together.
“C’mon you Moles”
Andy Cotton
Chairman
