Sussex Sunday Football League Div 4... 

Charlwood Village 6    BN Dons Res 3

       Charlwood Village continued their recent form with a resounding win at home against BN Dons Reserves. Reece Crofts put the Villagers ahead after 5 minutes but the Dons quickly replied with a goal to put the teams on level terms at the break.

       Twelve minutes after the break Charlwood’s George Hawkins volleyed home after the Dons keeper had parried a fierce drive from Luke Reid. Two quick goals followed, for the home team, from Matt Hill and Liam Steere and in the 66th minute Reid scored the goal of the game when he brought a high ball under control, evaded two tackles and thumped the ball home from thirty yards. 

      The visitors fought back with two scrambled goals before Steve Burton put the issue beyond doubt in the 82nd minute to make the final score 6-3 for the Villagers. 

Sussex Dynamos Res 1  Charlwood Village Res  3

In Division 8 of the Sussex Sunday League Nicu Mladin put the Villagers ahead before Karl Baller scored his 200th goal for the club to keep his team in front. A further goal from Mladin gave Charlwood a 3-1 victory. After the match Baller was presented with a trophy, by the manager Alex Sansbury, to mark his great goal scoring achievement. 

Colin Gates (Charlwood Village  FC)

Historic day for Charlwood Village... 

For the first time in its history Charlwood Village FC took home nine points in one day when all three of their teams competing in the Sussex Sunday League won. 

Sunday 19th September saw the first eleven play Rioz Rovers at home in division four and within five minutes they were ahead when Aaron Stanley hit the back of the net with a long, hard shot. This was followed by a cross from the left by Cathal Hogan which was headed home by Luke Reid to put the Villagers two up. The home side then took their foot off the pedal allowing Rioz to hit back with two goals from ex Charlwood player Jack Munday. 

Dave Worley put Charlwood back in front just two minutes after the re-start with a looping header which wrong footed the keeper. The lead was increased when Steve Burton came off the bench to net within seconds in the 65th minute but Jack Munday completed his hat-trick when he immediately clawed one back for the visitors. With 15 minutes remaining Aaron Stanley put the game beyond doubt when he scored with a cracking shot from the edge of the area to give Charlwood a win with the final score at 5-3. 

The game was followed by Charlwood Village Veterans against Eastbourne Warriors and saw Jason Suckling head home after three minutes for the home team but The Warriors hit back immediately from the spot to level the score. Suckling hit his second after 35 minutes from a penalty but the teams went in level at the break when the visitors scored on the half time whistle. 

Eight minutes into the second period Glen Davies put the home side back in the lead when he poked the ball home with a cheeky back heel flick. Further goals from Babucarr Nyang and Alan Tanaka-Heaton secured a 5-2 victory for the Villagers. 

Meanwhile the reserve team were enjoying a trip to the south-coast where they played Ardrington Rovers in division 8 of the league. Karl Baller put Charlwood ahead with his 199th goal for the club and further goals from Ryan Johnstone, Steve Walker and Nicu Mladin gave them a 3-4 win. 

Colin Gates (Charlwood Village FC)

Off to a good start... 

Sussex Sunday League; Division 4 

Charlwood Village FC 5    Hove Lawns FC 0

Charlwood Village made their mark with a resounding five-nil win in their first game in the Sussex Sunday League. Within seconds of the opening whistle the probing runs of Luke Read  and Liam Steere were causing problems for the visitors defence. The Villagers took control of the opening quarter and in the twentieth minute George Hawkins was put through with a brilliant ball by Ollie Hollingshead to notch up the first ever goal for the Charlwood team in their new league.

Matt Hill at right back for the Villagers joined in the hunt for goals with sparkling runs up the right flank and it was from one of these runs that Luke Read was able to hit the back of the net ten minutes before the break. 

Within two minutes of the re-start Steere dribbled into the box and squared back for Read to grab his second to put Charlwood three up. Five minutes later Hill converted a cross from Hawkins with a diving header and a minute later Hawkins grabbed another to make it five. 

Hove fought back in the final quarter but the Villagers defence led by Cathal Hogan and Dave Worley were seldom in trouble. 

Colin Gates (CVFC)

Charlwood Village Residents Football Club was formed in 1996 following a suggestion by the Parish Council during a debate on  possible  action to be taken  by the council under Agenda 21.

Agenda 21 came about at The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 when over 170 world governments signed a declaration aimed at ensuring a sustainable future for the world into and throughout the 21^st century. The directive filtered down through The United Nations, the European Community, the U.K. government, County Councils, District Councils, Parish Councils, Residents Associations and to individual members of the community.

At a local level Charlwood Parish Council and The Charlwood Society were among the first organisations in Mole Valley to take up the challenge and discuss possible  avenues of action.  One of the aims of  Agenda 21 was to make local people proud of their community and to make them feel part of a team, The creation of the village sign  and  the Parish Maps were among the achievements arising from these early discussions.

Another initiative adopted by the  Parish Council was the creation of The Charlwood Village Residents Football Club. It was felt that such an organisation would allow youngsters to represent  their village, at a level they understood  and enjoyed, thus fostering pride in their community.

Over the seventeen years since the club’s formation many young, local, people have been involved in the decision making at the club’s meetings  and been given positions of responsibility. They have also been encouraged to keep themselves physically fit and a strong set of club rules ensured that they behaved themselves both on and off the field of play. After the formation of the club a set of historical football photographs, depicting village teams from 1901 to the present day, was displayed in the pavilion. The modern day players were able to pick out and identify their fathers, grandfathers and even great grandfathers  who had played for the village. This gave the youngsters a sense of history and continuity of village life.

We feel that the club has achieved some of the objectives of Agenda 21 and given local youngsters a chance to represent their community  and following that a a pride in their community . The club would like to thank the Parish Council for promoting the club. Without their  sponsorship and encouragement in the early years it would have been difficult to get started. We would also like to thank members of the Charlwood community who have  donated so generously, and been involved, over the years  and enabled us to continue running the club and  pursuing the ideals of  Agenda 21 but we feel that in order to achieve these objectives it is essential  that  the youngsters perform on the village Recreation Ground where they can be supported by their friends and relations to give them a true sense of community under the ideals of  Agenda 21.

Since our formation we have had mixed success on the field of play. One of our best achievements was winning the ‘Redhill League Sunday Junior Cup’ in the season 2004/5. We have also been awarded a certificate for ‘Sportsmanship’.

AIMS FOR THE FUTURE
Sunday League football is limited as regards progress beyond the local league system but we are always aiming for promotion to a higher division and for success in both the League Cups and County Cups. We have recently applied to start a Junior Section and early indications are that over fifty youngsters and their parents are eager to take part. Most of these potential players are from the village or attend the village school.

We will continue to recruit local youngsters in the spirit of Agenda 21 with the objective of giving them a chance to represent their village which will give them a pride in their community and a sense of responsibility and will continue to enforce the club rules and code of conduct which, we hope, will enable them to become responsible citizens. We have also found that youngsters who have moved away from the village express a wish to play for the club simply because their fathers or grandfathers played for the village. This gives them a strong feeling of history and continuity.

THE PAVILION AND PITCH
The club welcomes the plans to refurbish the Pavilion and pitch because we feel that if we are to achieve our aims under Agenda 21 it is essential that we play our matches on the village pitch in view of the local residents.  A refurbished pavilion would also serve as a village centre and be available for social and fund raising purposes. This too would encourage their ‘pride in the community’. A refurbished pitch would, hopefully, prevent too many weeks of postponed games where players are likely to drift away and play elsewhere.

Colin Gates  (C.V.F.C.)