Tony INCENZO
TALKING POINTS
IT'S fair to say Ossie's knees “went all trembley” once again as the World Cup winner visited a rapidly developing Thames Valley Premier League ground at Step 7 last month.
Former Spurs and Argentina superstar Ossie Ardiles – subject of Chas & Dave's huge 1980s hit bearing those lyrics – was invited to officially open a new £1 million community centre at Yateley United. It is an exciting venture that will help the north Hampshire club with their ambitions to climb our national Non-League Pyramid as well as benefitting local residents.
The club motto, emblazoned on the imposing building at Sean Devereux Park – named after a local British Salesian missionary and aid worker murdered in Somalia in 1993 while working for UNICEF – grandly declares: “United For The Community”. Inside it contains changing rooms and showers with disabled access, medical rooms, a kitchen, a bar and a large function hall that can accommodate up to 200 people. Freshly laid parking on site provides total space for 150 vehicles.
After Ossie did the honours by cutting a giant green opening ribbon, I caught up with him to chat about Yateley's state-of-the-art premises. He began by telling me that it is a very valuable innovation by the club.
Essential
“I am extremely impressed by what Yateley United have delivered,” said Ardiles. “It is wonderful that so many volunteers have put in such a lot of effort to achieve this.
“Non-League clubs are truly essential for their communities. Football is not just about the Premier League and the Champions League. Children need places to practise and play the game with their friends. Pitches that are close to home where these kids can be supported by their parents. So local clubs fulfil this vital role.”
It might surprise most NLP readers to learn that Ossie is a big fan of Non-League football. He has attended numerous matches involving his son Pablo, who has played for and coached at several teams in the Hertfordshire area.
Ardiles said: “Pablo has been connected to sides around where we live since he was very young and now my grandchildren are starting to take an interest in playing too. The club that has always been most important to Pablo is Hoddesdon Town, where incidentally I am the honorary patron.
“Therefore I have been to watch Hoddesdon appear in Essex Senior League and Spartan South Midlands League fixtures numerous times over the years and I really enjoy it. The football is very competitive and their home ground is close for me so it only takes five or ten minutes to get there in the car. Then when I arrive, I basically know everybody and I have a little drink of tea or coffee in that very friendly environment. It is a completely different atmosphere to the Premier League.
“I just like football. So that doesn't mean that I want to see players like Pele, Maradona or Ronaldo in action every time I go to a game. At Non-League level, I have witnessed plenty of entertaining matches with lots of different incidents. Even a bad decision by the referee can be something to talk about!
“I would thoroughly recommend people to actively support their nearby Non-League teams. Absolutely, 100 percent! Just go along and you will soon discover how much you can appreciate it and feel a major part of your local community club.”
Ambitious and proud club chairman Colin Ive was bristling with enthusiasm about the club's new amenities.
“I am so pleased and relieved that we have achieved our aim,” Ive said. “We first launched the dream 13 years ago. It then became a vision and – in 2018 – it started to become a reality with all necessary planning permission approved.
“The funding that we pulled together for this whole development has been very much supported by the Football Foundation and we are hugely grateful to them. But the rest of the money has been raised by our own volunteers – including proceeds from a music event called ‘Gig on the Green Yateley' that we run every year. More recently, we staged a beer and wine festival.
“The Football Foundation gave us 50 percent of the funding for the community centre. Our overall expenditure on this project was just under £1 million.
Welcome
“The complex now becomes an important fund raiser for us and crucially means that we have a solid base to move up to Step 6 in the National League System. Next we want to install floodlights and adequate spectator accommodation as we enhance the ground even further.
“It is not solely focused on the first team. We have a total of seven adult sides, plus 24 youth teams and an expanding group of walking footballers. So we cater for players of all abilities aged from four right up to 84!
“In addition, the hall can be used by local people for pilates, yoga and other meetings. One of the main things I want to introduce down here is a Parkinson's support group because I lost my brother-in-law last year due to Parkinson's.
“We are saying to our surrounding community ‘Come and use the facility – it is there for you.' Everyone is welcome.”
Yateley United are currently clear leaders in the Thames Valley League Premier Division. I look forward to keeping an eye on their inevitable future progress up to Step 6 and beyond.
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