Column by Alan Darfi (CEO – Herefordshire Football Association)
Time has flown since my last bi-monthly update for Your Herefordshire, with plenty going on as usual at the SSAFA County Ground.
We are now very much at the ‘business end’ of the season, with the Zzoomm Herefordshire Football League, Herefordshire Junior League and Herefordshire Girls League all approaching the end of their respective programmes.
Together with the Avara Herefordshire FA County Cup programme at both Edgar Street and the SSAFA County Ground, this time of the year provides a great opportunity for teams to round of their seasons ahead of a well-deserved rest in the summer, including for our extraordinary volunteers.
It also provides a great opportunity to review our own progress throughout the year, which has been strong once again, particularly across the women and girls game which goes from strength to strength, resulting in ever-increasing player numbers, linked partly to the fantastic success of the England team in the summer.
As soon as one season finishes however another begins and we are already starting to plan for the affiliation process ahead of next year, a process we are continually trying to streamline to make easy for volunteers.
A few specific highlights over the past couple of months have a project that we are running for the Ukrainian community, with the support of Herefordshire Council, go from strength to strength, a Women’s Euro legacy project, with the support of Hereford City Council, result in a number of new coaches being trained ahead of deployment in the women and girls game and a charity event raising £1500 for an extremely worthwhile cause, more details of which can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/our-logan-bear.
I hope to see as many people as possible at the remaining cup finals and hope everyone enjoys the end of the season, usually made all the better for the lighter evenings and warmer weather!
