Royston Town Football Club is celebrating it’s 150th year, and alongside adult teams, the Club has a strong youth programme – RTYFC
Mini Crows – the programme for 3-6 year olds (boys and girls) which is the feeder programme for the Youth starting at U7s. These are fun age appropriate sessions for the Nursery/Reception age groups, followed by an age appropriate training session for the Year 1 group, with a view to starting matches the following year when they leave Mini Crows. At this stage, the Club tries to recruit as many parent coaches as possible to enable the games to happen, alongside a team of coaches whose children are no longer in the Mini Crows. Mini Crows started in 2015, and it’s where the Club has the biggest waiting list. The developmment of Royston with new housing estates has brought in many young couples and families, and sadly around 70 children aged 2-6 are waiting. A few parents add their children to the waiting list at ages 1-2 as they know there is a such high demand for spaces.
Wildcats – the programme for female only players aged 4-11, with the intention of creating a girls only team when the girls are old enough. This programme started in 2018.
Inclusive – this programme is for children with physical, learning and sensory disabilities, and the Inclusive team will work with any child who struggles to access a mainstream team. Inclusive originally started in 2017 at Meridian School, but became unsustainable with the outgoing costs of facility hire and lack of income due to poor attendance, so the club went back to the drawing board, renegotiated a more affordable fee with the school and relaunched later that year.
The programme grew in numbers and started off in the inside gym, until Covid restrictions halted all activity. Covid re-openings encouraged a temporary move to the outdoor 3G pitch, until the decision was made to keep Inclusive on the 3G alongside the rest of the Club’s activity. Training is held on a Friday evening at King James Academy, Royston, Junior Inclusive 6-7pm and Senior Inclusive 7-8pm. There is a £50 fee for the season.
A free Inclusive Football Festival runs as part of the Summer Tournament, predominately for RTY Inclusive Members, but this is open to anyone who would like to join from other inclusive programmes. They’ve even had a sibling who had come to support her sister playing in the standard format tournament, who joined in the inclusive festival and spent the afternoon playing football herself!
The inclusive programme has facilitated football for those who ordinarily may not be able to access playing, and when they’ve reached the upper age limit, some players have been supported into coaching the Junior group, with one completing the full in-person Level 1 coaching badge. The Club’s aspiration is to eventually launch an Adult Inclusive Programme within our local community, so that when members reach the upper age limit, they can continue to play the game they love as well as helping to coach.
Royston Town Youth Teams U7 to U18 – There are teams across the whole age range. Historically, teams stopped at U16s, due to poor player availability and it was struggle to have enough players within the U18s. This is not so much the case anymore, and whilst it often reduces down to one team by U16s, in the last few years teams have stayed into U17 & U18s.
The size of the Club has plateaued due to the lack of additional facilities in the town, meaning restricting to a maximum of 4 teams per age band (one girls only team and 3 mixed teams). If a new facility was to be built to reflect the size of the town, the Club would be able to expand their younger age groups.
RTYFC ensures that they cater for a broad range of abilities within their teams, structuring them to help ensure there is a place for a child regardless of their ability, subject to capacity.
RTYFC has development teams through to Elite for most age groups, and a proven pathway from Youth to First Team football. Former youth members are in both the Women’s and Men’s First teams and Reserves, and Midweek Under 18s have many current and former youth members involved. Many former players are within local adult teams within the surrounding area.
RTYFC is a not for profit organisation that relies heavily on fundraising to keep the cost of the membership to families as low and accessible as possible. The Jason Pallett Fund, which was donated to the Youth in Jason’s memory, is kept in trust and used to subsidise at least one playing membership per season.
In June, the annual Football Tournament brings in the majority of RTYFC’s fundraising. The crowd favourite is the Managers Match, which began in 2012 when youth volunteers Angela Baulk and Andy Toovey organised a friendly game between Royston Youth coaches. The event has grown and now features two full squads of managers battling it out on the pitch alongside a family fun day, with a BBQ, bouncy castles, face painting and the famous Hadley Hurl – where people buy tennis balls and throw them onto the pitch, with the one closest to the centre spot winning half the takings.
