Speaking as a woman and mum, it was the dads that started it. DoJoTo, that's Don, John and Tom in website jargon. Our sons played league football for another team for two seasons. Don was the first to become disenchanted and we started to discuss finding somewhere else for our lads to play. Where we played there were no facilities, oh, apart from McDonalds. The Happy Meal bill was running up alarmingly! The big problem though was with team organisation, or to be more specific, the lack of it.As you may well know, at kids' football matches the parents tend to clump together in their own little groups. Debbie (John's wife) and myself always ended up with Don. We laughed at his endless supply of jokes and anecdotes and listened to him shout himself hoarse, usually all directed at his son, Greg. Rachel (Don's better half) had much more sense. She would stand on the opposite side of the pitch and watch the match in relative peace and tranquillity.Anyway, one cold damp Sunday morning, with our lads doing their best and in the process of taking another confidence-sapping beating, Don approached Debbie and me about setting up a new team between the three sets of parents. After we had finished laughing, we realised that he was deadly serious so we went along with the idea.Within a couple of weeks Don was telling us that he had found the perfect place and would we like to come down and have a look. Don then took us to see the pitch and 'facilities' at Banks. Impressed wasn't the word. They had proper changing rooms with showers and toilets (no more peeing behind the bushes - Tom). Chairs to sit on and also a car park! Compared to what we were used to it was like Old Trafford! Best of the lot, there was no McDonalds so that would save us a fortune. We were told by the people in charge at Banks that as long as we encouraged local boys we would more or less have a free hand to run an under 9s team.After much discussion, the DoJoTo and wives decided to give it a go. We advertised for players in the local school and within three weeks had a squad of 13 players of differing abilities. Banks JFC promptly entered us into the Craven Minor League and WHAM, our boys were happy again. They were playing football. By boys I mean the men, of course. Well, to be more precise Don and Tom. John was content to sit at home and concentrate on our website (and go to work! - John).I know you must be thinking what happened to the three girls- Debbie, Heather and Rachel. Well, we didn't become Charlie's new Angels, we did all the hard work like sorting out kit, getting the right size, ordering equipment and registering players (it's all lies - Tom). Oh, I forgot to mention collecting money and going to meetings (more lies - Tom. Kindly shut up, Tom, I'm telling the story. OK dearest, whatever you say- Tom). The men just continued to kick a ball around playing at being coaches. I am beginning to wonder. Did they set this team up for their benefit or the boys? You tell me.All this was happening in May and June 2002. Within that time we could see everything coming together. The boys were really enjoying it and the parents were too. July came and went, and August, the anticipation of our first match loomed over us. It must be the same kind of feeling Alex Ferguson gets when he watches Manchester United go out for the first match of the season. The build up as September approached was unbearable.We has started to see some structure in the team and the boys were working hard to improve their skills. 8th September arrived, Ormskirk West End, away, anticipation, were they good? will we lose by loads? will the boys get stagestruck?You can see the outcome and visit the match reports elsewhere on this site. In the meantime, I hope we continue with our success at Banks and that the boys will stay with us until they are 16. What a scary thought. Heather Back to main page