A frustrating and yet rewarding seven days in the life of a Chesham United chairman again this week. On the field we have hit a sticky patch in our race to the play-offs with a draw at home to Harrow Borough last Saturday and a 3-1 defeat, having led 1-0, at one of our closest rivals, Truro City, on Tuesday night.
Overall the picture is not bad, we still sit in a strong position in the league when it comes to fighting for the play-offs. I don’t think it is being negative, more realistic, to say that recent results have made winning the league unlikely, but we are still very much in the fight for second place, which could see us with home advantage in the play-offs – that would be huge, our home record has been exceptional over the past couple of seasons. A long way to go still, and a lot of football to be played, including a trip to Poole Town on Saturday to face another side fighting for one of the play-off places – the tough games really do keep coming.
After Saturday we are into a spell of home games which could define the season, no less than five home matches in the month of March, starting at home to Merthyr Town on Tuesday night. Please do come along and give the lads your support, a Tuesday night game under the floodlights makes for a cracking evening, and even if it is a cold evening we have the warm clubhouse for pre-match, post-match and half-time refreshments, as well as Billy Burger selling hot food and warm drinks available from the Tea Bar. With the crowd behind us, I am sure we can make this a most memorable March. Kick-off is 7.45pm. Don’t forget its pay what you want as the original game was abandoned due to the serious injury to Jake. I ask you to be as generous as possible please.
I mentioned in my opening paragraph that it has been a rewarding week as well. After a home draw and away defeat, one point out of six, you might be wondering how that is so; but it is the realisation that there is more to our football club than winning matches. Last Saturday we invited a special guest, young supporter Michael, to the game for a birthday treat, meeting the players, going in the boardroom, and nominating and presenting Man of the Match. A couple of days later I received the most wonderful email from his family telling us what a fantastic day he had had and how much he was talking about the experience. He said “It was the best day of his life” Such a simple thing for us to do as a club, but it can mean so much.
When you live the club day in and day out sometimes you do forget what it means to other people. For the majority of people that come to the club it is not about paying the bills, fixing the leaks, organising fixtures, finding sponsors, sorting out caterers, making sure there are stewards, turnstile operators, first aiders and office staff on a matchday. For most people it is a passion. A release on a Saturday. A break away from the everyday norm and a chance to watch your local football team, get involved as much as you want and get engrossed in the matchday experience and what players are coming in and out of the club. And at the end of the day, that is what we are here to provide for the town and surrounding areas of Chesham.
In addition to that we have the various sections – Ladies, Youth, Minis, Girls – who are a proactive integral part of the club, and between us there is so much more that we can offer, over and above watching or playing football. And that is what is behind the magical ‘One Chesham’ term that you will hear banded around more and more as we establish that ethos across everything that we do. It is about being imaginative, utilising what we have, realising the things that we often take for granted can mean something very different to other people and it costs nothing for us to share that to a wider audience. It is about being part of the community.
Recent board meetings have focused on the One Chesham concept, now that we have a much stronger board we can look at the structure of the club, the areas of responsibility and press ahead with turning all the fantastic ideas that are around in to planned actions. We have already put a focus on our sponsorship and advertising packages and are proactively organising renewals and new partnerships, and we do still have match and ball sponsorship available for our forthcoming run of homes. Ball sponsorship is just £75 + VAT and match sponsorship £250 + VAT. You will have a great day enjoying our hospitality and seeing some of the behind-the-scenes matchday activity. More information can be found on our website here, or contact commercial@cheshamunited.co.uk.
You may well have seen in the excellent Your Chesham magazine this month the advert for the world-famous Treorchy Male Choir coming to Chesham on Saturday 17th June. This really is an honour for the town, and I am delighted that we have been able to organise the event to raise funds for our charity partner Bucks Mind. If you have not yet bought your tickets, you can do so by clicking here. Thank you to St Mary’s Church for donating the use of their magnificent Church free of charge.
Thank you as always for your support
Peter Brown, Chairman
