The Story So Far.

Cottage Farm Rangers FC is a junior football club providing football for both girls and boys, with teams ranging from under 8's through to open age. The club was founded back in 1993 by our current secretary, Bob Bynt and the late Fred Wood, and over the years has continued to flourish under the philosophy that football should be fun and winning is not the be all and end all.

However, as a club we have continued to teach our players the skills required to play football, both as an individual and as a team and also instructed them in the laws of the game. To that end almost all the volunteers involved with the club have either achieved the FA Junior Team Managers Award or have a full FA Coaching Certificate. The club has 21 officers who have completed the FA Junior Team Managers Award or 1st4Sport Level 1 Coaching Certificate, of these 4 have gone on to achieve the Level 2 FA Coaching Certificate with 3 or 4 more coaches wishing to start the Level 2 this year. We have one is midway through the next stage, the Level 3 FA Coaching Licence (UEFA B Award) this year. Another two are starting the FA Coaching Licence this year. There are also a number of qualified referees amongst those volunteers, and all of the officers who have completed FA Coaching Awards, have completed a first aid course as well. One of the coaches have completed the FA Basic Sports Injuries Course, which is, despite its name, definitely not a basic course, and a further six have completed a Prevention and First Aid Management of Sports Injuries course. 

The Girls Football Section was introduced to the club in November 1999, and in that short space of time has proved very successful, to the point that we have entered teams (under 10's up to under 16's) in a new league based in the South Staffordshire area from September 2000 onwards. This league provides football based on small-sided rules i.e. six a side football. We also have two open age Ladies teams playing 11-a-side matches in the West Midlands Ladies League and the Staffordshire Womens County League.

 The club has in the last couple of years obtained lottery grants totalling £5000. This money has been used to provide several sets of small-sided goals for the girls and younger boy's teams. Some of this money went towards the cost of the coaching courses, which our officers have attended. Also new kits have been provided for our new girl's teams, as well as a lot of other equipment for training purposes and first aid equipment.

On Wednesday 3^rd October 2001, Cottage Farm Rangers were awarded the F.A.'s top club award at a Presentation Evening at Birmingham County Headquarters. The "Charter Standard Development Club" award is only given to those clubs who can demonstrate that they have a safe club for children, a friendly environment and that all coaches have the F.A. minimum standard qualification.

Cottage Farm were the first club in Tamworth to receive this award, and are one of only five clubs in the whole of the Birmingham County F.A. area at the time.

Club Chairman Roger White, who accepted the award from Les Howie, the National Football Development Manager, said, "As with any award, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to achieve. Club Secretary Bob Bynt and I are over the moon. This is a fabulous vote of thanks for all the hard work put in by all members of Cottage Farm, the Committee, Coaches, Parents and Players alike".

Tom Stack, Birmingham's Director for Football Development, together with Caroline Rees, Sponsorship Manager for the Nationwide Building Society said, "Cottage Farm Rangers should be proud of this award, theirs was one of the highest quality applications received, everyone at the club should be proud. Clubs like Cottage Farm are setting the standard that all the other clubs will have to follow. Within the next 2 to 3 years, this standard will be a requirement for all the clubs to attain".  

In the summer of 2002, Cottage Farm Rangers introduced their Development Centre for youngsters from 5 years of age upwards which is proving very successful. Nearly 40 lads regularly attended these sessions led by Charlie Hembry and Kevin Dyer. Following this success, a Girls Development Centre was started in July, and this again has being well supported.

The club has also, at the start of the 2002/2003 season, come to a further arrangement with Belgrave High School to continue our arrangement where Cottage Farm Rangers will use the school as it's home for the next 5 years. The club have supplied some of their coaches to undertake after-school football courses via Active Sports for the school's pupils at various times, and will continue to do so when required. The club and the school are looking to enhance their partnership in the future, for the good of both parties and also the local community. Cottage Farm Rangers have grown from a single team in the 1993/1994 season, to 18 teams in the 2002/2003 season, it's tenth year. With the players waiting to play at Under 8 and those younger still, the club will continue to grow and provide opportunities for more youngsters to play and enjoy football.

At the start of the 2003/2004 season, Cottage Farm Rangers had 13 male teams, from Under 8's up to the Under 15s and Dads teams, plus 4 Under 7's teams who have played in a recent  indoor 5-a-side tournament. There are also 5 female teams, from Under 12's up to the open age Ladies teams. The Development Centre is being very well supported in it's new indoor home for the winter.

Some excellent news was received at Christmas time 2003, when the joint initiative between Belgrave High School and Cottage Farm Rangers to obtain a grant from the Football Foundation, was confirmed as being successful with the school being presented with a cheque for £222,485 by local MP Brian Jenkins. This money is get a drainage system put in to the Belgrave High School fields which should enable more games to be played in the future and allow for more than 200 players at Cottage Farm Rangers to enjoy their football on better quality pitches.

Watch this space for more news in the future.