Welcome to AFC Stoneham

Thank you very much for joining AFC Stoneham and welcome on board. This pack has been put together in order to give you an introduction to the club and provide as much relevant information as possible. We please ask that you both read through this welcome pack and keep to hand for future reference. We do hope you enjoy your experience with our club.

History and Structure

AFC Stoneham was founded over 100 years ago as the Royal Engineers FC by soldiers returning from the first world war. The soldiers forming the club worked in the Ordnance Survey Office and in 1929 changed the name of the club to simply ‘Ordnance Survey’. With a rich history, the club had to move from their home at The Civil Service ground in Southampton and eventually during 2002 moved to Stoneham Park in Stoneham Lane whilst changing the club’s name to AFC Stoneham in 2007. 

The club moved to our previous ground in Chestnut Avenue in 2011 which brought the club great success and the platform for the growth and development we have enjoyed in recent years prior to the move to our new £9M home in January 2020.

The club currently plays in 15 different leagues and our players range in age from 4-year-olds right through to our Senior teams. We currently have 113 teams and 1500 registered players. As part of our commitment to the F.A Charter, each team has at least one Coach with a recognised FA coaching qualification whilst all of our Managers and Coaches have an in date DBS and Safeguarding qualification.

Home matches are predominately played at our Stoneham Lane ground which is also the home of our Mens and Ladies first teams. We successfully achieved Charter Standard status in 2001 and have been successful in renewing this on an annual basis ever since with the highest award now known as a 3 star FA Club Accreditation.

Our club committee meets at least every two months throughout the year and consists of Chairman, Club Secretary, President, age group Secretaries and our Child Welfare Officers. An Annual General Meeting is held in June of each year.

Contacts

Please do not hesitate to contact club committee members listed below should you have any questions or feedback.

• Club Secretary: Dave Osborne - 07747 096943 - secretary@afcstoneham.co.uk

• EDMSL Secretary: Helen Maguire - 07747 011966 - youthsecretary@afcstoneham.co.uk

• Tyro League: Claire Hall - 07375 315254 - tyroyouthsecretary@afcstoneham.co.uk

• Female Teams: Tracey Wheeler - 07533 958356 - traceyw@afcstoneham.co.uk

• Child Welfare: Liz Smith - 07531 965755 - welfare@afcstoneham.co.uk

• Club Chairman: Mark Stupple - 07481 696579 - chairman@afcstoneham.co.uk

Additional Key Information 

Club Sponsorship – The club enjoys support from over 100 current sponsors from the local community many of whom sponsor junior teams kit. Our main club sponsor is currently Nuffield Health private hospital.

AFC Stoneham in The Community – As a very large community club we believe we have a social responsibility to the community in supporting various projects particularly around diversity and inclusion. Although a new initiative we already have 7 projects running which we hope to expand on further in 2024.

AFC Stoneham Development Centre – The club runs our own Player Development Centre for both male and female across all age groups once a week.

F.A Wildcats Centre for Girls – The club is an accredited FA Wildcats centre for Girls which is an introduction to football for girls age 4-10 on a weekly basis.

Saturday Morning Fun Club – We hold our own Saturday Morning Fun club on our grass pitches in Stoneham Lane to introduce young children aged 4-10 to football.

Free entry to first-team Male and Female games – All AFC Stoneham players can attend both our men and ladies first-team games free of charge with parents half price, including a matchday programme.

Summer Tournaments – The club holds our own summer tournaments in June and July for both male and female teams.

End of season presentation – This is normally held in May where all players up to and including U10 are presented with participation awards in addition to individual award winners.

Girls and Ladies section – Our female teams have increased from 1 five years ago to 24 for the 23/24 season. We expect this to grow further whilst our ladies first team move into the national women's pyramid allowing for a player pathway into an excellent level of women's football.

Holland Trip – The club undertake an annual trip to the FC Vlaardingen Tournament near Rotterdam in April/May each year at U11, U13 and U15 where we compete with clubs from at least 5 or 6 other countries.

Team Fundraising – Whilst the club will supply playing kit, balls, cones, bibs, first Aid, and more if required, in addition to any private sponsorship, all teams are encouraged to undertake their own fundraising enabling them to buy additional kit for their own team, for example; tracksuits, training kit, coats.

Annuals subs - Annual fees are set in May/June of each year and communicated to all team managers and parents. A signing on fee, included within the annual fees, is set and paid on signing for the club. The remaining balance can be paid fully in August or by 6 direct debit payments from September to February inclusive. The club uses a Google form for club registration and a payment platform called Go Cardless to collect payments.

Any questions or feedback on any of the above can be forwarded to Mark Stupple at chairman@afcstoneham.co.uk.

Guidance

Included in our welcome pack are some brief guidance notes on:

• Child Protection

• Training and Coaching

We ask your attention to be drawn to the documents detailed below which can be found on the club website: 

• Club Constitution and Rules

• Equality

• Emergency Action Plan

• Anti Bullying Policy

• Respect Guides

• Data Protection (GDPR as of 25th May 2018)

• Player Form

• Coaches’ Code of Conduct

• Players Code of Conduct (Youth)

• Players Code of Conduct (Mini Soccer)

• Parent’s Code of Conduct

Child Protection

Child protection is a vital part of what we do as a football club and a cornerstone of our FA Charter Status. No adult is allowed to join in with any training session until they have filled in a volunteer registration form and handed it in to the designated manager (for that age group) or Child Welfare Officer.

If an adult is taking part regularly then they must complete a CRC application through the Child Welfare Officer. Best Practice guidelines advise a minimum of 2 adults to be present at all times.

The club provides first aid kits and one is present at each training session and game.

Codes of Conducts are provided for parents and players and are to be strictly adhered to (a signed copy needs to be held by the Club Secretary).

We would please ask that signing on forms including contact details and Codes of Conducts should be handed to the team manager as soon as possible. Failure to return the signed forms can result in a player not being allowed to take part in future sessions/matches.

In the event of a potential child protection issue contact the Child Welfare Officer at the first opportunity or use the “Report a Concern” link on our website please.

Any such issue is confidential and communication should be restricted to the Child Welfare Officer unless he/she advises or requests that another person(s) become involved.

Training and Coaching

At the commencement of each season, you will be asked to sign both a player and parent. code of conduct ensuring that you have read understood and agree to abide by the relevant codes of conduct. There are Codes of Conduct for Club Officers, Managers/Coaches, Parents/Guardians and Players.

These are important documents as they set out the standards of behaviour expected by the Club, The Football Association and the various leagues we are affiliated to. Failure to comply with these codes could result in your behaviour being investigated and the possibility of sanctions being taken against you.

These codes exist in order to help our youth players develop their skills in a stress-free and enjoyable environment. Parents must not coach the players or shout anything from the sidelines apart from encouragement and appreciation of their play. We recommend that spectators say nothing but applaud good play and for coaches to only offer instructions at the break periods in the game.

From time to time the FA and Leagues declare a ‘silent weekend’ period in order to demonstrate that children much prefer to play in an environment that does not exert pressure on them to ‘perform’.

At Mini Soccer and Under 11 age groups the emphasis is on player development only and results and league tables are not published but as children develop through the age groups then the emphasis becomes more on competition and progression. Up to U11 age group scores and goalscorers are prohibited from being highlighted or published under F.A rules.

AFC Stoneham fully understands that children play football for different reasons and develop at varying rates. At many age groups, we have 3 or 4 teams and we attempt to structure teams in each age group by three levels known as Foundation, Development and Advanced.

We believe that this structure allows each young player to train and play in the right environment for them ensuring maximum game time and enjoyment of the game thus ultimately supporting their development.

AFC Stoneham now has a very clear and structured player pathway for both male and female players into a very good level of senior football. In essence, a young person can join our club at 4 years of age and progress right through to our senior first teams whilst playing and training at fantastic facilities.

Training is vital to the growth and development of both the individual player, the team and the club as a whole. The club is dedicated to providing a minimum of 2 hours per week for training and matches and most of our training and home matches take place at our ground in Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh which is also our first team’s home ground and a central venue for mini-soccer leagues.

Costs for facility hire is our biggest expense and venues are shared to keep costs down where possible. Each team is allocated specific days and times for training normally at our facility in Stoneham Lane.

F.A Charter Standard Status sets rules for coaching standards, a minimum of a Level 1 F.A Coach must be present for every session. No session is allowed to take place unless a coach is available. All of our Managers and Coaches will have undergone a DBS Police check before being permitted to work with and coach the children and most of them will have undergone safeguarding training.

AFC Stoneham believes that football is a “vehicle” to teach young people key life lessons. One of those lessons is around working as part of a team and commitment. Attending training sessions is therefore as important as playing in matches and consistent non-attendance at training sessions may impact on the selection process.

The club classes consistent non-attendance as only attending 70% of sessions in a minimum period of 7 weeks and believes that a manager is acting unfairly in selecting such a player over one that attends training at a rate of 85% plus.

Match Organisation

Under 7, Under 8’s, Under 9’s and Under 10’s play mini-soccer at both 5-a-side and 7-a-side. Our club encourages squads of either 8 or 9 players fro 5-a-side and 9 or 10 players for 7-a-side.

Under 11 and Under 12’s play 9v9 format and we encourage squad of 12 or 13 players.

Under 13 and older play 11v11 format and we encourage squads of 16 players

In mini-soccer it is usual for a parent to referee each game and your team manager would welcome your support in occasionally undertaking the officiating of a game as either referee or line person. Your support makes our manager/coaches role so much easier whilst officiating by a team manager is not the best practice. 

You are advised that a DBS/CRC is required before participating as a safeguarding measure and when acting as a match official one is not allowed to coach the children.

Club Policy is to give as many players an even chance to play particularly at the younger age groups. The club ethos is about inclusion rather than exclusion, particularly during the mini-soccer years. Please do note the previous comment regarding attendance at training when reading the above.

At mini-soccer age groups, the leagues intended standard is for every player to expect to play 50% of the match/season as a minimum which we as a club also endorse. However please respect that our team managers can find this difficult in certain circumstances as they have numerous other matters to be considered during the course of the game which may not always be immediately apparent to a parent.

The use of ‘rolling substitutes’ helps the manager to manage game time but adds to the difficulties of keeping tabs on who has played what percentage of the game overall.

Good communication between coach, parent and player is key. AFC Stoneham is signed up to the FA Respect Campaign and emphasises that we will not tolerate any poor practices or behaviour by managers, players or parents/guardians. The club has a zero-tolerance approach to any bad behaviour.

This will continuously be communicated throughout the season and reference made to the codes of conduct which every player and parent should have signed when joining. Parents help and support towards our club is vital for our future growth and sustainability. If any parent has a spare couple of hours per week we would be delighted to hear from you. We promise to find you a job!

Squad Structures

The team manager has responsibility for deciding who they include in their squads for the forthcoming season in consultation with their coaches.

Within our age group structures a player can be moved from, for example, a development team to an advanced team and vice versa or a foundation team to a development team or vice versa.

We believe that the advantage of having a clearly defined structure allows for players to occasionally move teams to meet their needs in respect of growth and development within our club and thus being able to remain with AFC Stoneham.

The above becomes more prevalent at older age groups however at all age groups any recommended move needs to be dealt with empathetically and via good transparent communication.

Complaints, Disclosures, Reporting a Concern

Please remember that all of our Committee, Managers, Coaches and helpers are volunteers and give freely of their time and commitment without financial reward.

They give their time to ensure that our young players can enjoy playing football which has a huge positive effect on both their physical and mental well being, however, our managers and coaches are “human” and will make mistakes.

Although we all strive to offer the best sporting experience possible there will inevitably be occasions when things go wrong or when concerns occur.

Complaints

Any complaint received will be taken very seriously by the club and fully explored. Our full complaints procedure can be viewed on our website where there is also a “report a concern” link under the Welfare section. The first point of contact for any complaint is via our Club Secretary at secretary@afcstoneham.co.uk.

Useful Information

Full Address: AFC Stoneham, Stoneham Lane Football Complex, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh, SO16 2PA

Bank Details: HSBC Bank AFC Stoneham - Sort code: 40-20-10 - Account number: 81328417

Social Media Platforms

Website: www.afcstoneham.co.uk

Facebook: @www.afcstoneham.co.uk

Twitter: @afc_stoneham - @stoneham_vets - @StonehamAFC (Girls and Ladies)

Instagram: @afc_stoneham - @afcstonehamladies - @afcstonehamu16_u18