REPORT FOR SEASON 2021/22
Following on from two difficult seasons due to the pandemic, there is little doubt that the 2021/22 season has been very problematical for different reasons entirely.
With Jacob Kalms agreeing to stay with the Club by bringing in a new set of players, we decided to reform the Second Team for the first time since 2018. As part of the agreement of this new team representing the Club, we managed to secure a 'commitment bond', so to speak, from 17 players which in turn allowed us to enter the team into the MGBSFL.
Prior to the start of the season, a huge plus for the Club was that Kerry Higham was appointed as a non-Management Committee assisting admin, after her sterling work organising the sponsored red and yellow shirts used during the previous Covid-affected season. It was a natural progression to get her involved in vital admin work especially on WGS where she has handled around 90 registrations. She supervised the early season membership collection and the 'commitment bond' from Jacob's players.
Looking at the First Team, the foundations of mis-management had already been put in place well before Simon Linden decided to return as manager after his time away from the game. Players were being signed on without any financial commitment and some were put on irregular 'pay-as-you-play' deals which really did not provide much income to the Club. Players were allowed to take home items of a brand new kit which should have been kept together. The playing kit problem came to light later on in the season when I attended a match with Kerry and found that just under half of the Hamptons kit was missing, particularly shorts and socks.
With three forfeitures, a long list of indiscipline and lack of adequate management, I would sum up the First Team's overall season on the organisational front as being very disappointing. Of course Simon Linden taking the reins again was a bright spot and I am personally glad he returned. However, despite the issues, somehow the team managed to find stability in a generally competitive First Division and their survival in the middle section was very welcomed.
The Second Team started their campaign in a satisfactory way but I already had my concerns about the team because of the lack of integration from the outset. We did not know anything about their pre-season plans and Jacob turned down friendlies which was rather worrying at the time. We felt that he was trying to keep the team in isolation and we had no access to them administratively; everything appeared to have to be conducted through the manager which was far from ideal. By the end of the year it was clear that there were problems with player availability for one reason or another. This eventually culminated in three league games being forfeited. The Club urged the manager to utilise players from the other two teams which thankfully helped him raise bare elevens on several occasions.
In one of the biggest divisions for many years, giving 22 fixtures, I feared that the Second Team would fold and not complete their campaign. As someone who has promoted integration for many years within the Club, I did not agree with how the Second Team was run as part of this well-established, long-running Club. However, I will give Jacob full credit for seeing out the season by fulfilling 20 of his competitive fixtures.
Overall, forfeiting six fixtures in the MGBSFL proved to be very costly for the Club, with another two games unplayed through no fault of our own. We lost approximately £818 in income, suffered fines from the league of over £200 and wasted one pitch at SJP due to a forfeit, in addition to having to pay a further £92 as a pitch reimbursement. That is a negative swing of just over £1,300 which the Club really could not afford and it is something of a miracle that we are, at the time of writing this on 20th May, just about in front over the season, but only because we collected some membership income belatedly.
To sum up our MGBSFL teams, it was encouraging to have the Second Team back and Simon Linden's return was warmly welcomed. The sponsorship of two exquisite, brand-new kits from EV2 – thanks to Grant Bates of Hamptons and Jacob Kalms of Fantasy Five – was huge uplifting positives. With the First Team finishing in eighth place their survival in Division One was another high. Unfortunately, the Second Team's dismal run of form and prolonged struggle took them to the basement of Division Two. We need to encourage positive changes to ensure full integration and better administration moving forwards, if we are to allow this team to continue.
I am pleased now to be moving on to the Old Boys Team. Simon Black, who had played the previous season, decided to accept the position of manager and bought in some very good players to replace the mediocrity that had hampered the team previously. Suddenly – and long overdue – we had an Old Boys Team that was competing with others in the Masters League.
They brilliantly beat EHRS Stonegrove and Brady Maccabi for the first time in years. The Old Boys won more league games in the first few fixtures that they had over the previous three seasons. Finally we had a Masters team to be proud of, competing with the best in that division, rather than merely making up the numbers. They only lost 2-1 to eventual double-winners Maccabi London Lions and good results in the Masters Cup took the Old Boys to the semi-final. There, they narrowly lost to the Lions with the solitary goal just before the end denying the team an opportunity to face the lottery that is a penalty shoot-out.
The records will show a positive league summary for the first time since 2007/08. Most impressively though was the Old Boys Team's defence in that they only conceded 17 goals during 13 league matches, which included four with ten men against the Lions, but excludes the default win against Glenthorne. Their goals against record is by far the lowest tally recorded by a Temple Fortune team in a total of 95 seasons collectively across the First Team (46), Second Team (23) and Old Boys Team (26). That's very impressive and full marks goes to Simon Black and his men for bringing a highly competitive edge and much pride back to our Masters team.
So to summarise, with MGBSFL matchday standards worryingly in decline during the season, this Club needs to get back on track and measures need to be put in place for next season as soon as possible. With this in mind, we held a meeting via Zoom on Monday 9th May, involving Simon Linden, Jacob Kalms, Adam Speck, Kerry Higham and myself, to discuss improving the basic administration, which was positive between the MGBSFL management. Based on this, the Second Team was unanimously approved to run again during season 2022/23.
Looking ahead to next season, as a Club we received a huge boost by being offered Silver Jubilee Park on most Sunday mornings to host our two MGBSFL teams. With the Masters League pulling out, we have at least 24 weeks on the new state-of-the-art, professional FIFA-accredited pitch, which will surely be one of the best in the country.
To conclude, a massive thank you to Kerry and the team managers for doing their best to steady the ship throughout a very trying campaign.
NIGEL KYTE, 20th May 2022
Following on from two difficult seasons due to the pandemic, there is little doubt that the 2021/22 season has been very problematical for different reasons entirely.
With Jacob Kalms agreeing to stay with the Club by bringing in a new set of players, we decided to reform the Second Team for the first time since 2018. As part of the agreement of this new team representing the Club, we managed to secure a 'commitment bond', so to speak, from 17 players which in turn allowed us to enter the team into the MGBSFL.
Prior to the start of the season, a huge plus for the Club was that Kerry Higham was appointed as a non-Management Committee assisting admin, after her sterling work organising the sponsored red and yellow shirts used during the previous Covid-affected season. It was a natural progression to get her involved in vital admin work especially on WGS where she has handled around 90 registrations. She supervised the early season membership collection and the 'commitment bond' from Jacob's players.
Looking at the First Team, the foundations of mis-management had already been put in place well before Simon Linden decided to return as manager after his time away from the game. Players were being signed on without any financial commitment and some were put on irregular 'pay-as-you-play' deals which really did not provide much income to the Club. Players were allowed to take home items of a brand new kit which should have been kept together. The playing kit problem came to light later on in the season when I attended a match with Kerry and found that just under half of the Hamptons kit was missing, particularly shorts and socks.
With three forfeitures, a long list of indiscipline and lack of adequate management, I would sum up the First Team's overall season on the organisational front as being very disappointing. Of course Simon Linden taking the reins again was a bright spot and I am personally glad he returned. However, despite the issues, somehow the team managed to find stability in a generally competitive First Division and their survival in the middle section was very welcomed.
The Second Team started their campaign in a satisfactory way but I already had my concerns about the team because of the lack of integration from the outset. We did not know anything about their pre-season plans and Jacob turned down friendlies which was rather worrying at the time. We felt that he was trying to keep the team in isolation and we had no access to them administratively; everything appeared to have to be conducted through the manager which was far from ideal. By the end of the year it was clear that there were problems with player availability for one reason or another. This eventually culminated in three league games being forfeited. The Club urged the manager to utilise players from the other two teams which thankfully helped him raise bare elevens on several occasions.
In one of the biggest divisions for many years, giving 22 fixtures, I feared that the Second Team would fold and not complete their campaign. As someone who has promoted integration for many years within the Club, I did not agree with how the Second Team was run as part of this well-established, long-running Club. However, I will give Jacob full credit for seeing out the season by fulfilling 20 of his competitive fixtures.
Overall, forfeiting six fixtures in the MGBSFL proved to be very costly for the Club, with another two games unplayed through no fault of our own. We lost approximately £818 in income, suffered fines from the league of over £200 and wasted one pitch at SJP due to a forfeit, in addition to having to pay a further £92 as a pitch reimbursement. That is a negative swing of just over £1,300 which the Club really could not afford and it is something of a miracle that we are, at the time of writing this on 20th May, just about in front over the season, but only because we collected some membership income belatedly.
To sum up our MGBSFL teams, it was encouraging to have the Second Team back and Simon Linden's return was warmly welcomed. The sponsorship of two exquisite, brand-new kits from EV2 – thanks to Grant Bates of Hamptons and Jacob Kalms of Fantasy Five – was huge uplifting positives. With the First Team finishing in eighth place their survival in Division One was another high. Unfortunately, the Second Team's dismal run of form and prolonged struggle took them to the basement of Division Two. We need to encourage positive changes to ensure full integration and better administration moving forwards, if we are to allow this team to continue.
I am pleased now to be moving on to the Old Boys Team. Simon Black, who had played the previous season, decided to accept the position of manager and bought in some very good players to replace the mediocrity that had hampered the team previously. Suddenly – and long overdue – we had an Old Boys Team that was competing with others in the Masters League.
They brilliantly beat EHRS Stonegrove and Brady Maccabi for the first time in years. The Old Boys won more league games in the first few fixtures that they had over the previous three seasons. Finally we had a Masters team to be proud of, competing with the best in that division, rather than merely making up the numbers. They only lost 2-1 to eventual double-winners Maccabi London Lions and good results in the Masters Cup took the Old Boys to the semi-final. There, they narrowly lost to the Lions with the solitary goal just before the end denying the team an opportunity to face the lottery that is a penalty shoot-out.
The records will show a positive league summary for the first time since 2007/08. Most impressively though was the Old Boys Team's defence in that they only conceded 17 goals during 13 league matches, which included four with ten men against the Lions, but excludes the default win against Glenthorne. Their goals against record is by far the lowest tally recorded by a Temple Fortune team in a total of 95 seasons collectively across the First Team (46), Second Team (23) and Old Boys Team (26). That's very impressive and full marks goes to Simon Black and his men for bringing a highly competitive edge and much pride back to our Masters team.
So to summarise, with MGBSFL matchday standards worryingly in decline during the season, this Club needs to get back on track and measures need to be put in place for next season as soon as possible. With this in mind, we held a meeting via Zoom on Monday 9th May, involving Simon Linden, Jacob Kalms, Adam Speck, Kerry Higham and myself, to discuss improving the basic administration, which was positive between the MGBSFL management. Based on this, the Second Team was unanimously approved to run again during season 2022/23.
Looking ahead to next season, as a Club we received a huge boost by being offered Silver Jubilee Park on most Sunday mornings to host our two MGBSFL teams. With the Masters League pulling out, we have at least 24 weeks on the new state-of-the-art, professional FIFA-accredited pitch, which will surely be one of the best in the country.
To conclude, a massive thank you to Kerry and the team managers for doing their best to steady the ship throughout a very trying campaign.
NIGEL KYTE, 20th May 2022