LUCY MAIR - CLUB PERSON OF THE YEAR

Club Person of the year-24/25

Lucy Mair.

All of our volunteer managers and coaches do a wonderful job every season . Thank you.

Yesterday we presented the 2024/25 Club Person of the year award to the fantastic Lucy Mair!

Lucy runs three teams whilst being club secretary for all of our Mid Solent teams amongst everything else she does for the club!

Lucy and her family are a huge part of our club and make an outstanding contribution which as a club we felt thoroughly deserved this award.

Thank you to the inspirational Lucy Mair!

U10 ATHLETIC - DOUBLE JPL CUP WINNERS!

AFC Stoneham Athletic U10: Double JPL Cup Champions!

What a season it's been for AFC Stoneham Athletic U10! This talented group of young footballers has clinched both the Winter and Summer Junior Premier League (JPL) Cups, marking an extraordinary achievement in their football journey.

To celebrate this remarkable feat, the boys were joined by their head coach, Andy Marks and football legend James Beattie at the Stoneham Lane Football Complex. The duo presented the team with their well-deserved medals and, of course, the coveted cups! Manager Carl Nichols and club chairman Mark Stupple were also present to commemorate the special occasion.

Adding to the excitement, the men's first team had secured the Southampton Senior Cup the night before at St Mary's Stadium. Some of our mini purps were there to cheer them on, and they were thrilled to get their hands on the cup, dreaming of emulating the same in the future.

A massive thank you to James, Andy, all the parents, supporters, and our team sponsor, Wired Partnership, for your unwavering support throughout the season. Here's to more victories and memories for AFC Stoneham Athletic!

#AFCStoneham #U10Champions #DoubleJPLCupWinners #FutureStars #UPTHEPURPS


SOUTHAMPTON FA SENIOR CUP WINNERS!

Southampton FA Senior Cup Final

AFC Stoneham 3 Millbrook 0

Scorers: Welch, Sampson and Martins.

Another wonderful and historic night at St Mary's for the club as we collected this seasons second piece of silverware following our Hampshire Senior Cup triumph.

We took a 2-0 half time lead through a Welch thunderbolt and a Sampson goal before Millbrook missed a decisive penalty on 53 minutes ensuring that a Martins header sealed the win on 75 mins.

We would like to thank an estimated 1000 fans who came along tonight to support the boys

and for cheering them on. Your support is massively appreciated and made a big difference.

Well done to everyone for giving the club another fantastic night and making us all immensely proud as we finish the season on a big high!

#upthepurps

PORTSWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL

Portswood Primary School Girls!

We were delighted to host nearly 20 girls from Portswood Primary School today with their teacher Hannah.

Club Coach Lucy put on a great session for the girls with lots of fun and smiles. Thank you Lucy.

We are hoping that there may be some future Wildcats and Purps from Portswood Primary playing soon in some of our girls teams!

Well done girls!

Thank you

#upthepurps

U13 SPITFIRES - HAMPSHIRE CHAMPIONS

U13 Spitfires - County Champions!

Big congratulations to our U13 Spitfires who today won the Hampshire Cup for a second consecutive season beating Hamble 4-3.

The boys made a slow start and found themselves 2-0 down in 11 minutes before a 12 minute Alfie Lomas hat trick gave the boys a 3-2 half time lead.

Hamble deservedly equalised in the second half and took the upper hand before a set piece corner restored our lead to clinch a very narrow win.

Well done to Jon and the boys on another fantastic achievement!

Please share

Thank you

#upthepurps

U13 GIRLS PHOENIX ON TOUR!

U13 Girls Phoenix

Our U13 Girls Phoenix recently returned from a great experience abroad. Below is a report of a fantastic trip by Daniel. Thank you.

AFC Stoneham U13G Phoenixes on Tour.

Once again this year the AFC Stoneham Phoenixes set off to Holland to take part in the Easter Open and to play a game against VV Baarlo Girls football team.

An early bus set off on Thursday with a group of excited footballers and tired parents!

We stayed at Centerparcs Kempervennen - which provided an amazing pool, and other facilities.

On Easter Friday we played against VV Baarlo - their report here: (https://www.vvbaarlo.nl/.../meiden-mo13-1-genieten-van.../).

We were returning to Baarlo after our first meeting last year. The game was a great way to kick off the tour.

Stoneham Phoenixes won and got their confidence up before the tournament.

However the football was secondary to seeing the girls from both teams partying for a couple of hours afterwards, sharing food, dancing and just having a great time - enabled by their love of football.

VV Baarlo have also suggested that they are interested in a return trip in 2026/27 to celebrate 50 years of women's football, and 100 years of their club existing.

They will be very welcome, and hopefully other teams may be able to build on this relationship.

Holland Easter Open Day 1

AFC Stoneham U13 Phoenixes vs Knights Templar School (1)

The Phoenixes started the tournament strong with some very good football.

Won 4-1 with a goal from Cara and hat trick from Ali.

AFC Stoneham U13 Phoenixes vs Snekkersten IF

The Phoenixes carried on their winning streak and won 2-0 with a goal from Millie H and one from Maelys.

AFC Stoneham U13 Phoenixes vs Mumbles Rangers FC (1)

The Phoenixes dominated the game leading 2-0 (Ali and Maelys) but the opposition managed to come back in the last 2 minutes leading to a draw 2-2.

Great performance from the team overall ending the day first of their group and second overall.

Holland Easter Open Day 2

AFC Stoneham U13 Phoenixes vs Albertslund IF

Tight game. The phoenixes were dominating, giving the opposition a hard time.

Great goal at the 17th minute from Amelie W gave us the victory. 1-0

AFC Stoneham U13 Phoenixes vs Knights Templar School (1)

We got to play this team a second time in the tournament.

All battled well and it ended in a draw 0-0

AFC Stoneham U13 Phoenixes vs DSV Sint Anthonis

The girls knew they needed to win and score as many goals as possible to secure a place in the final and they didn’t disappoint!

Ali started with a goal after 2 minutes and Cara followed with a hat trick leading to a 4-0 win which got them first place in the group and a ticket to the final!!!

Final vs Procision Football Academy

The Phoenixes went against the strongest team in the tournament but did not back down, battled hard and defended really well and secured a 0-0 draw at full time.

This meant the competition had to end like all the best competitions do with penalties!!!

Goalkeeper Harriet was fantastic and managed to save two penalties, which allowed them to win 4-3 after the opposition missed their last one.

And just like that, U13G Phoenixes won their first tournament of this summer in the Holland Easter Open .

Back to Centerparcs for an evening of celebrations, singing and just having an amazing time - all enabled by a shared passion of Football.

Huge thanks to our coaches Josh Willis, Joe Hodge, and Debora Pietras who helped organise the whole trip.

A truly amazing weekend of football, friendship and fun.

#afcstoneham

#upthepurps

WOMENS RECREATIONAL FOOTBALL

Mums wanted !!

AFC Stoneham are starting a Women's Social Football session for mums of our clubs young players.

This is a recreational/social session enabling mums to try football and get involved with a great group of other mums.

Please note that this session is not aimed at current players from the Women's Super League.

Sessions will take place on a Tuesday from 8-9pm. Please see details below.

We look forward to seeing as many mums as possible.

Please share

Thank you

#upthepurps

HISTORY MAKERS!! HAMPSHIRE SENIOR CUP WINNERS

HISTORY MAKERS!

April 15th - Hampshire Senior Cup final

AFC Stoneham 3

AFC Portchester 0

Scorers: Jenkins, Bainbridge, Fee.

A historic and truly wonderful night for our football club as we won the Hampshire Senior Cup for the first time in our 106 year history.

We raced into a 3-0 half time lead with a great team performance against the recently crowned Wessex Premier League Champions.

The second half was slightly more balanced and we defended resolutely to keep our clean sheet and record a historic result.

Well done boys on a superb night for the club on which everyone of you did us proud!!

#upthepurps

Largest grassroots club in the South and third in the UK

Largest grassroots football club in the South of England and third in the UK.

AFC Stoneham were delighted to learn this week that our club is now formally recognised as the largest grassroots football club in the South of England with 139 FA affiliated teams.

The club is in the top three in the UK from over 42,000 other grassroots football clubs.

We are immensely proud and delighted of this achievement which is a direct result of a huge amount of hard work by many people over a long period of time.

We would particularly like to recognise our 450 volunteer managers and coaches who through their fantastic commitment to grassroots football and our club make a very positive influence on many young people's lives and our local community.

A massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to this success and achievement.

Purple Heart award - Outstanding Sportsmanship and kindness.

Jude Townsend

Purple Heart Award for recognising great sportsmanship and acts of kindness.

Jude would never have imagined that his one act of kindness at the weekend could prove to be so powerful and enabled so many positive outcomes.

The feedback has been huge from people feeling happy to read such a positive heartwarming story (many peeling onions at the time!) ,other managers now recognising their players in a similar way and the club now producing an award available to all of our players moving forward which may spread to other clubs as well. The post has had nearly 10000 views.

This wonderful act of kindness and sportsmanship reminds us that grassroots sport can be so powerful for so many reasons. Whilst there are always negative stories there are a lot more hugely positive ones which sadly we don't highlight enough. If we have a great story we should tell it !

On the back of Jude's fantastic sportsmanship and kindness the club has now created the Purple Heart Award for recognising great sportsmanship and acts of kindness by our young players. The photo of Jude and the goalkeeper will be the badge on the trophy.

Jude will obviously be the first ever recipient of the new award.

Our team managers can nominate to the club a player to be presented with a Purple Heart Award. The bar has been set very high!

Jude has truly been an inspiration to literally thousands of people in the last 48 hours and spread a huge amount of love and happiness.

Again, a huge well done to Jude.

Thank you

#upthepurps

Recognition for outstanding sportsmanship - Jude Townsend

Jude Townsend - Jaguars U13

Recognition for outstanding sportsmanship.

To the best of our knowledge our club has never published such a post as below.

Perhaps we should have done, however sometimes there are fantastic acts of kindness and sportsmanship which ensure that there is a "first time". There will only ever be one "first time".

Sportsmanship, kindness, thoughtfulness and respect are all huge values at AFC Stoneham. Yesterday 12 year old Jude Townsend displayed them all in abundance.

Please see below three messages received which illustrate what happened..........

Message received from the oppositions goalies parent:

My son played against your U13 Jaguars yesterday.

Things took a turn when our goalkeeper got injured after 20 minutes. Our backup goalkeeper/defender had to step in.

At halftime, the backup goalkeeper got injured too, and my son volunteered to go in goal thinking it would be easy and fun, but guess what? The Jaguars started scoring goals left and right, and our team went down to 10 and 9 players!

My son was so frustrated with the poor defence and his own performance in goal that he started crying.

But then, out of nowhere, the Jaguars’ centre-back, Jude, ran from his half to comfort my son. He gave him a pep talk and said some encouraging words.

It was so heartwarming to see! that moment of support was truly incredible. It was one of the strongest positive actions I’ve ever seen in youth football. Even at the end of the game, the Jaguars were the first ones to rush to my son to comfort him despite having just won the league.

I don’t know if there’s an award for respect in the club, but if there is, Jude definitely deserves it!

He showed incredible kindness and support to my son during the game.

Jude's Father

Wow what a message!!! Thank you for saying so.

Jude is my son and I’ve never been more proud of the young man he’s becoming.

All parents were confused as to what he was doing running over there as everyone else ran off celebrating. He showed a real touch of class and I’m beaming with pride.

I take my hat off to Luke in goal today for stepping in as a 3rd choice goalie. He showed tremendous team spirit.

You should be incredibly proud also.

Thank you

Lee - Jaguars Manager

Since I’ve been at AFC Stoneham for 5 seasons now so I’ve seen a lot of games not just in our age group,today was a true testament of what our club stands for

Jude sacrificed his own enjoyment of winning the league to make sure that the oppositions standby GK was okay after being on the other end of an onslaught.

I personally think that players like Jude should be praised for acts like this and also shows how well the club is portrayed.

I was just wondering if there were any way of decorating Jude for his passion for AFC Stoneham and what it means to play for the club.

Following on from Jude's example the club will now be recognising other acts of sportsmanship amongst our players allowing our managers to recommend to the club an award for such outstanding behaviour as they see fit amongst their players.

JUDE TOWNSEND - We salute you young man and are very proud to have you on board at AFC Stoneham.

Thank you

Please share

#upthepurps

EDMSL Respect marks - Excellent!

EDMSL RESPECT MARKS

We were delighted to receive our clubs Respect marks for the last couple of months from our friends at the Eastleigh and District Mini Soccer League.

Respect by our players and management to officials and opposition teams is hugely important to our club and the marks given reflect this ethos.

AFC Stoneham has 23 teams playing in the EDMSL and the marks cover 303 games over a two month period. Each opposition team gives feedback on our teams and the comments received are unanimously kind and very positive. Thank you.

Our clubs Respect Marks were:

On pitch 97%

Around pitch 96%

Considering the number of games reviewed we are extremely proud of the figures which we believe to be one of the very best in the league, if not the best.

Well done to all of our players, managers, coaches and parents for displaying outstanding behaviour and conduct. Thank you.

#upthepurps

U13 Girls Tigers

U13 Girls Tigers

A fantastic win for our super U13 Tigers recently in their first season together that we thought we would give them their own post.

AFC Stoneham Tigers 3 - Hythe and Dibden 1

A long awaited and well deserved win for the Tigers today!!!

We went into the game against a tough opponent with the bare 11.

The girls dominated from the off playing with amazing work rate.

Our first goal was a great effort from our right winger Lacey who pushed through the oppositions back line and took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself lobbing the keeper to put us 1 ahead.

The girls could feel the momentum building all through the first half and we went into half time 2 up after a great finish from Tia who persistently applied pressure on the opposition.

Early in the first half and with Hythe now applying pressure of their own we went down to 10 players after an injury from a great 50/50 tackle.

Hythe then managed to get a goal back midway through the second half and were starting to take advantage of our tired legs.

With lots of encouragement and team spirit the tigers pushed back and were determined not to let the game slip away.

With minutes left in the game and some tigers now visibly in pain due to giving absolutely everything they had, they upped the tempo and Nyah ran the majority of the pitch delivering a controlled and precise finish to put the game away winning 3-1.

Hearts , determination and team spirit gave the Tigers the first 3 points of the season.

We are all so proud of the girls, their first season has not been an easy one. Their resilience has been unreal.

Well done Tigers #UTP

Summer Tournament - July 5 and 6 .

SUMMER TOURNAMENT - JULY 5 and 6

The club are delighted to announce that our summer tournament this year will be held over the weekend of July 5 and 6.

Last summer we hosted nearly 200 teams from the South of England with over 5000 people visiting our ground.

Entries can be made via Purpslive.co.uk or by scanning the QR code below.

All enquiries for further information if required can be made via:
tournament@afcstoneham.co.uk

The club will need many volunteers over the weekend and if you can help please contact:
chairman@afcstoneham.co.uk

We look forward to hopefully seeing you in July for another great tournament.

Thank you

#upthepurps