It really is difficult to describe Kirkham Junior Football Club without acknowledging the dedication, enthusiasm and hard work of our managers, coaches and volunteers. Quite simply, without you, the Club would not exist.
It is hoped that the following will provide information that supports you in your role and acts as a working document as you navigate your way through a typical season with our Club.
A: Facilities
1: Training
Agreed time slots and pitches, particularly for winter training are provided / allocated by the club.
If you cancel training (at AFC Fylde), please inform our Facilities Officer via the Managers’ & Coaches’ WhatsApp Group more than 1 hour before your session start time.
Grass training will be postponed by the club if dictated by the weather. This will be communicated, by the Facilities Officer, via email or the Manager’s WhatsApp group.
2: Match Days
Club fixtures are available on the FA’s Full-Time website and will be circulated on the Managers / Coaches WhatsApp group no later than Tuesday evening by the Club Secretary.
Home match postponement for pitches not owned by the Council, will be advised by the Club on Friday afternoons for Saturday games and Saturday afternoons for Sunday games. After that, discretion lies with the appointed referee on the match day.
3: Protecting Our Pitches
At times, as a result of a period of inclement weather, we may need to work together to conserve and protect our pitches to ensure their ongoing availability during the rest of the season. You will be advised by the Committee if alterations to ordinary arrangements are required but we would also urge managers to consider whether there is more that they can do to preserve the pitch integrity by, for example, not warming up on a pitch before a game.
In the event of extreme and continued bad weather the Club will pay to hire artificial pitches, where possible, for games following the postponement of two consecutive home games.
B: Kit & Equipment
All purchases for kit and equipment must be approved by the Kit & Equipment Officer.
Read this section for information on ordering.
1: Player Kits
Each child is entitled to a red training kit on joining the club.
Match kits are updated every two years and the Club expects every manager to try and obtain sponsorship towards the cost of this kit.
Due to increased shipping costs, the Club reserve the right to organise delivery in bulk, which may result in delays in receiving some kit. Kit can be collected directly from Galaxy or parents can choose to pay for delivery if they wish to receive kit sooner.
These remain the property of the club and must be returned to the club if the player leaves.
Lost or damaged match kits must be replaced by the player/ parents as appropriate.
Managers complete the online order form with our supplier, Galaxy Football, for player kits. This is verified by the Kit and Equipment Officer.
2: Manager’s Kit
Each team will receive 2 club tracksuits and 2 coats free from the club. These are for the manager and their assistant once they are appropriately qualified. If there are three managing and coaching staff then the cost of extra set must be spilt three ways between them.
3: Other Club Clothing
There is a variety of other club branded clothing, including hoodies and tracksuits, available to order. These can either be sponsored or purchased by parents. Anyone can buy kit from Galaxy directly, as necessary, using the KJFC Catalogue.
4: Football Equipment
At the beginning of each season we seek to ensure that managers have the right equipment for their team. You can order the following equipment using our online form below. This includes items such as:
- Balls
- Cones / markers / marker posts
- Bibs
- Kit bags / ball bags
- First aid kit
- Player of the Week Trophies
The order form is here: KJFC Equipment Order Form
5: Annual Stock-take
At the end of each season we ask each manager to provide a list of the functioning club equipment they have.
This is important for us to understand as usable equipment can be moved between teams and for our annual accounts / stock position.
C: Playing Policy
As a club we believe:
- Equal game time – up to Under 10s – in line with the FA guidelines for all players to play a minimum of 50% of a game.
- Rotation of players in squads to provide fair and equitable access to games where applicable.
- Children rotated to play in different positions up to and including Under 10s . No child should be restricted to play in a set position unless they choose to do so.
D: Payments to Managers or Coaches
1: Paying Referees
Managers need to pay the required fee to referees at each league or cup game, in cash as per league rules.
The club will provide this to managers in advance or reimburse as desired.
This will normally be paid to managers via bank transfer.
Requests can be made by completing this form: Referee Claim Form
It is typical for managers to take their referee fees in blocks such as for 10 games or similar.
2: Club Tours
The club will pay a set amount of £50 per child towards football tours at Under 12s and Under 14s. We will assist with team fundraising activities to pay for these trips. All trips should be booked only after discussion with the club’s committee.
3: Tournament Entry
The club will pay a maximum of £75 per season to each team for tournament entry.
4: Miscellaneous Expenses & Payments
There may be instances whereby a manager, coach or person connected to the club is entitled to claim expenses or payments from the club for services performed or costs incurred.
Work Completed for the Club Claim Form
5: Christmas Activity Payments
The Committee has decide to abolish these prior payments. We believe that the monies should be used directly for football related activities.
E: Club Communications
1: Communicating With Players and Parents – WhatsApp & Spond
We recommend that managers establish a WhatsApp Group for their team and use Spond to aid communication and determine weekly availabilty for training and matches. It is important that membership of the group is restricted to player’s parents only.
Managers should exercise caution in terms of communicating directly with children as outlined in safeguarding and welfare training.
2: Manager’s Meeting
Usually held on the first Monday of every other month (July, September, November, January, March, May) at 7pm.
We expect representation from each team, whether this is the manager or one of the coaching team.
Minutes will be taken at each meeting and circulated to all managers, and coaches, via the Club’s WhatsApp group and posted to the Club Website.
3: Coaches / Manager’s WhatsApp Group
This group provides coaches and managers with a range of information including:
- Fixture information
- Club news
- Postponements
- Meeting minutes
- Reminders to complete actions
- Details of meetings.
Committee members are administrators of the group – ask them to get added as needed.
We ask all to exercise caution in terms of sharing information from this group more widely or posting details of any arising welfare issues on there.
Please send this information directly to the appropriate person and try to move conversations into a private discussion rather than on the main group.
4: Club Facebook Page
We must be mindful of the content placed on social media and therefore only Committee Members can post content on the group.
Key restrictions concern providing children’s full names and publishing scores of games at non- competitive ages (up to Under 10s).
5: Club Website
The club website (www.kirkhamjuniors.co.uk) contains a range of information about the club and how it is run.
You can update or suggest new information by contacting webmaster@kirkhamjuniors.co.uk
F: Qualifications & DBS Clearance
1: DBS Checks
All managers and coaches must be Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checked to enable them to take part in training. We limit DBS checks to four per team.
To register further volunteers for your team this follow the information on our ‘obtaining your DBS clearance‘ page. Any questions or queries can be emailed to safeguarding@kirkhamjuniors.co.uk
2: FA Level 1 Coaching Qualification
As a club, we are required to have at least one FA Level 1 qualified coach in each team.
Ideally, we would like to have 2 in each team, to ensure we have long-term continuity and flexibility as necessary.
The club will pay/reimburse the costs of these courses.
3: Other Qualifications
Managers are required to have valid First Aid and Safeguarding training. These are delivered as part of the FA Level 1 course and will need to be updated in subsequent years. The club will pay for these as necessary.
We will consider financially supporting those who wish to undertake FA Level Two coaching qualifications (or above). Please speak to a committee member if the first instance.
All fees for any training and development activities can be claimed using the KJFC Training and Development Claim Form.
G: Miscellaneous
1: Team Sponsorship
We expect each team to obtain sponsorship to cover the cost of their match kits. The club will work alongside each manager to achieve this as necessary.
We have found that it is possible to secure additional funding from a single or range of sponsors for rain jackets, tracksuits and training kits as well.
All sponsorship money must be received by the club, before the order is placed with our kit supplier.
We ask that all sponsorship for new seasons is therefore arranged before the end of May to enable kits to be ordered well in advance of the season formally starting in September.
We are currently developing a price list to aid discussions with potential sponsors.
2: End of Season Awards
Each May we hold our annual prize-giving event. The club will provide three trophies for each team. These can be named as desired by each team. Typically they would include
- Manager’s Player of the year
- Coaches Player of the year
- Clubman of the year
- Player’s player of year or Most improved player (Manager decides which)
- Top Goalscorer
All players will receive a medal to mark completing the season with the club.
A professional photographer will take team and individual photos.
Team sponsors may be invited along to attend, at the manager’s discretion with consultation with the organising member of the committee.