Founded in 1964 as a village social team, Litlington Athletic FC are a community club in Cambridgeshire who run two Saturday sides every week. As they rely heavily on the incredible passion and fundraising of their volunteers and supporters, they are delighted to have already won £759 with 1000GBP.com.
Former player Jay Wiltshire is the first team manager and, as his family have lived in Litlington for more than 50 years, he is especially passionate about the club.
‘We are a genuine community team and love our local connections and support,’ said Jay
. ‘The money we’ve already been awarded from 1000GBP.com is such a big thing for a little village club like us as £759 makes a real difference to our bank balance and we’ve told all our players and committee about the football quiz.’
Chairman and Head of Football, Sturge Mazzocchi, was previously an academy football coach with Luton Town, Arsenal and Stevenage. During the pandemic he was introduced to Litlington AFC by a friend and was impressed by their potential. After helping out with some coaching he became Chairman in June 2022 and told us that he is very ambitious for the club.
‘One of the things that immediately appealed to me’ said Sturge
, ‘was the superb quality of our pitches which are way better than most we ever come across at this level, thanks to Stewart Bullard and his company who have looked after them for many years.’
‘That’s a real bonus, as our big objective is to get into the Spartan South Midland League Division 1. It’s 5 promotions away but would give us access to the FA Cup. If the Premier League is Division 1 then we are in Division 15, but we take real inspiration from Marc White who won 12 promotions in 23 years with Dorking Wanderers, so we know it can be done,’ said Sturge
.
However, that ambition looked a long way off during the period immediately after Covid when, after deciding to add a second team, the club sometimes found it difficult to locate enough players for both sides every weekend.
‘At least one man was cornered on a Saturday when he mistimed his visit to the Village Store and was persuaded to go home and collect his kit and play,’ recalled Jay
, ‘And a couple of years ago our former chairman, Ian Ruggles, turned up with his dog to watch, and a few minutes later was pulling on some spare kit!’
Fortunately, technology has helped transform team selection and Conor Browne, the reserve team manager, who also won £500 with 1000GBP.com last week, sends a message out on their player WhatsApp group on a Monday night and by the next day he usually has his squad confirmed.
‘A couple of years ago we only had 4 players in the reserves,’ said Conor
, ‘but that’s improved enormously and we’ve now got a much more settled squad with about 16 players every week and with an average age of around 22 which is rare at this level’.
The players each pay £5 a week subs to play, and every aspect of the club has to be very carefully planned, but Jay is very impressed with the impact the new chairman has already had.
‘Sturge has revolutionised the club, especially our training with his top-level experience and qualifications. It is the best training we’ve ever had and he’s really brought us back up after the struggles of the Covid period.
‘We now have a large squad of players and many are involved with the running of the club. Several also double up with committee work, such as our secretary, James Evans and Brad Sell as treasurer. One of the players also has to take the kit home to wash on a rotation although it’s often the last one in the changing room!’
In his role as chairman, Sturge also emphasised how important volunteering is to the club. ‘
We are very fortunate to have so many dedicated people working and playing with us, but we do have vacancies at the moment in areas such as photography and match-day reporting so if anyone is interested in getting involved, please get in touch!
The social side is an integral part of life at the club, especially the regular post-match gatherings in The Green Man sports bar in Royston, but fund-raising events are also important.
‘
Fundraising is critical when trying to sustain a football club that only has about 20 or 30 spectators a week’ Sturge told us
‘And non-league football as a business model simply doesn’t work when you consider that even at established clubs many jobs are carried out by unpaid volunteers. We want to be self-sustaining but also to engage with the village as without them we wouldn’t have a club. That is also why the money we’ve just won from 1000GBP.com is so important as it can pay for a lot of essentials.’
Litlington AFC’s innovative main fundraiser in 2024 will take place at the ground on July 27
th when they stage their third annual
LitFest, a football tournament followed by live music and with many other attractions, including a family zone. Joshua Zulu and Daniel Lumley are among those scheduled to perform and the day has the potential to fund the teams for a year and also give something back to the local community. Proceeds will go towards improving club facilities and details can be found at
www.litfestlife.com
‘My experience of non-league football is of forming close bonds and friendships through the shared mission of winning matches and trophies’ said Sturge
, ‘and we are very proud that we’ve grown our club at a time when, unfortunately, many teams are folding. Now with an abundance of talent coming through, we are poised to start climbing up the county league tables.
The top two teams in the Cambridgeshire County League Division 1A automatically win promotion so Litlington AFC are aiming for one of those spots and are also in the local cup semi-final.
‘It’s been a good season so far’ said Jay, whose grandad, Geoff Bright, also managed the team in the 1980’s. ‘
The money we’ve been awarded by 1000GBP.com will definitely help with our plans and I’m sure its exactly the kind of new initiative that will be welcomed by non-league clubs everywhere.’
