Photo: James Latter
Thanks to a grant from the Trident Community Foundation, the Magpies are organising small-sided matches for local children alongside live music, food, and other entertainment to help celebrate 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
Club secretary David Smith spoke of his excitement for the upcoming tournament and the club’s hopes of engaging more people in the village. He said: “We’re based in quite a small village, so we get people who like football and who are familiar with us, and then there are some other members of the community not so much.
“We just thought with the jubilee coming up, it would be really great to put on a community-based tournament and have stalls there.
“It’s not meant to be something that’s hugely competitive.
“There are going to be a lot of national celebrations going on, so this is what we started to plan ahead for, to have over the course of the weekend.
“We can have some events and get the community coming up and seeing a different side to us, rather than just poor parking and whatever on a Saturday!”
The Magpies are one of more than 40 clubs to have benefited from a Trident Community Foundation grant, part of Pitching In’s multi-million-pound commitment to grassroots sport.
And for Smith, the Platinum Jubilee felt like a fitting time to host a community event like this, with many people having fond memories of previous celebrations.
“I think it’s because we recognise that it needs to be acknowledged - it’s the jubilee,” added Smith. “From our childhoods – well certainly from my childhood – I can remember in 1977 when there was the Silver Jubilee and it was very memorable, having street parties and everyone getting involved and waving bunting and things like that.
“It’s the sort of thing that can unite people rather than divide people.”
The tournament is also a chance for Colney Heath to revitalise their youth set-up, which has been seeing reduced numbers in recent years.
Smith said: “Our youth set up has been running now about eight years and when it was set up, we were lucky enough to get lots of age groups coming in.
“But of course, every year they get a year older, and we haven’t really been able to backfill it.
“I think our youngest side at the moment, shockingly, is under-11s so what we’d really like to do is open it up again and go back to a lot younger age groups and just to let them play football with a smile on their faces and don’t take it too seriously and enjoy it; that’s what we’re really aiming for.”
Above all, the tournament is a chance for Colney Heath to demonstrate the role of non-League clubs in their communities – something Smith says the Magpies take seriously.
“We are aware of the responsibility we have as a large organisation within the village and therefore I feel a responsibility to put on such events at such times,” he said. “It is exciting, it is fun and it’s really great when things work out and people enjoy themselves and talk about it afterwards.
“That’s where you get your rewards, when people recognise that you’ve done it and you’ve done it well”.
By James Reid, Sportsbeat
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