ANNUAL REPORT 2025/26

Last year my report started with the disappointment of underage players. Whilst we still have had instances of people thinking it was acceptable to photoshop proof of date of birth the number of cases dropped noticeably. I suspect this was helped at the start of the season when Matthew Philipson kindly offered to request registrations checks on behalf of the League. Just the threat of this appears to have had an impact. 

Unfortunately, Matthew had to step down for personal reasons and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Matthew for his help as the reduction in the checks directly appeared to link with a rise in queries about ineligible players being raised. 

We are looking for someone to replace Matthew as sadly it appears we do need to carry out these random checks. 

Whilst on the subject of proof of date of birth, due to the use of photoshop, for next season if a driving licence is used as proof of ID we require copies of both sides of the licence as proof. 

The other change for the coming season is we will be enforcing the League Rule that says if a team wants to enter more than two external Cup Competitions, they MUST apply to the League Secretary for permission. Each case will be looked at on an individual basis, the reason for this some teams had no problems getting fixtures played, whilst some teams it caused no end of issues for the Fixture Secretaries and for opponents who had to wait for a free date to play their last game. 

On the field.

In my report last year, I wrote about there some incredibly tight Divisions. This was again the case with at least four Divisions being decided on the final game. We had the incredible situation in two Divisions where the second and third placed sides met in the final match and it was guaranteed that the team who were top before the game could not win the title. I cannot remember seeing that happen in any League let alone the Veterans League. 

There were new names on both the Essex FA County Cups, with Brentwood Town winning the Saturday Veterans Cup and Old Barkabbeyans winning the Essex Veterans Trophy. 

Chapel United Over 45’s created a new competition record by only conceded one goal in the League all season, the previous record was three goals. Springfield became the second team who have been relegated from the Premier Division to Division Two and then won promotion back to the top flight. 

Discipline and Fair Play

Discipline across the competition was generally good once again. In modern football it is so easy to received a yellow or red card so the fact the League average was only 70% of the games having a card overall is excellent. Once again, the Divisional Sportsmanship winners do not have to pay their Annual Subscription next season. 

Cup Finals

I seem to write the same thing every season with regard to having some fantastic Cup Finals and this was the case this season. In half of the finals the team scoring first did not win the Cup. What was pleasing was virtually every team listened to the requests regarding footwear and keeping children off the pitch. Also, all bar two teams left the dressing rooms in an immaculate state, this might seem a small thing but it is appreciated by League Officers when they don’t have to clear up mess left behind. 

Administration

Administration was a real mixed bag this season with a record sixteen Clubs qualifying for the League Admin award. This means they did not incur a single League fine all season and did not cause League Officers problems. This was fantastic to be able to reduce so many Clubs Annual Subscriptions. In fact, we are paying Upminster Over 45’s to play in the League next season as they also topped their Divisional Sportsmanship table. Nearly eighty per cent of teams completed their results sheet on time every week, which really reduces the League Officers workload. On the down side six teams seem to have money to burn in fines. They managed to incur a total of £750 in fines solely for failing to complete results sheets on time, the only way I can describe that is madness. 

I cannot say this enough, we don’t want to fine any Clubs, we would much prefer we didn’t have the extra work of having to chase information. 

Referees

Once again, Chris Crawford, James Holloway and Ryan Anderson appointed officials to over 1300 games which is amazing. I would like to thank all three of them for the hard work this takes, every day of the season. 

The League used a mere 151 different Referees to cover the games. Again, some Clubs were fantastic in their support by either finding Referees themselves or willingly moving kick off times so one Referee could cover two fixtures, so thank you for that. 

What was disappointing was we lost a number of Referees because of players behaviour towards the match official. Sometimes Clubs need to remember we are the very bottom of the pecking order in terms of Officials so every performance every week is not going to be up to Michael Oliver’s accuracy levels. One of the most disappointing complaints for me personally was about it being the Referee’s fault for spoiling a game for disallowing a goal for their team. They described the incident and the “error” the Referee made was to make a correct decision within the Laws of the Game!!!!!! 

Running the League

As a League we are very lucky to have a great set of volunteers, who put in hundreds of hours of work so you can all play football. It has also been noticeable this season, how many people from Clubs have taken the time to thank different Committee members for their help. This has far outweighed any complaints and it is really appreciated. 

I would like to personally thank Brian Sayers for his help and support once again. Brian is out and about every week watching games, with Geoff Harwood, the Vice Chairman. This really helps build up a picture of what is going on. I would also like to thank Geoff for the work in arranging all the medals and Cups. Steve Newlyn with assistance from Dave Dukelow have done a great job with the fixtures. So many of the Divisions were decided late on by fixtures involving the teams going for titles. I do think some people think doing the League’s fixtures is as easy as the Premier League fixtures, it could not be further from the truth with the impact of free weeks, pitch availability, Councils closing pitches and all that before cup runs or weather. 

Fred Thickbroom has process over five thousand two hundred registrations this year which is a mammoth task, there is never an excuse for playing an unregistered player with the support Fred gives. 

There is also the unseen work of John Watts as Treasurer, Simon Marshall monitoring discipline and Russell McGill, issues charges and chasing fines. It is just a shame Russell has so much work, as I have said before we really do not want a penny in fines, they are only there for when opposing Clubs and/or League Officers are inconvenienced.  

I hope you all have a great summer and good luck for next season

Martin Berry

Secretary