In recent weeks I have been approached by members of another Kent club with a view to potentially taking on a large number of youth sides in readiness for 2023/24 as their current club will no longer be able to accommodate them.

Since the club ventured in to Saturday football in 2016, and more so since arriving in the SCEFL in 2018, it has long been my ambition to expand the club in whatever way possible to ensure it becomes larger and offers more opportunity for anyone and everyone to play football, for the club to get a “home”, and eventually, in time, to become self-sufficient with less reliance on myself and a select few other individuals.

Starting a football club and trying to grow it organically with so much local competition and no home venue to call our own (yet) is a near impossible task, especially with two of the recent seasons curtailed by Covid, so the opportunity to inherit so many well established sides already functioning in local leagues is not one to be overlooked.

A thriving youth setup is the lifeblood of any club and we’ve previously been at a huge disadvantage to many of our competitors at this level of senior football in not having had this vital pathway, so putting this in place as soon as possible is critical.

Thankfully, following numerous meetings with a venue, a collection of managers within said club, and endless phone calls, it would appear that up to as many as 20 youth sides will be joining Welling Town for the new season ahead which will be hugely exciting for all involved.

Given this considerable expansion it will mean our placement in many local youth leagues, and given the workload of that will be taken on whether its one side or many, we’re also therefore welcoming further applications from other local sides who might want to join our ever growing club and this can be done in confidence by emailing the club directly.

If you are the parent of a local junior player looking for new opportunities for 2023/24 you can complete our online application here … https://form.jotform.com/91064340344348

Further confirmation of specifics will be broadcast once the 2022/23 season is over and formal applications for league membership have been completed. Out of courtesy to those still concluding their current fixtures it would be wrong to go into further detail at this time.

More information on Welling Town in general can be found via our website or on this link … https://linktr.ee/wellingtown

Kevin Oakes