History ~ By Sue Sloan

& Ian B

In The Beginning

The 'YOUTH' team was formed in 1999 mainly due to a couple called Mo and Sue Sloane; Mo & Sue have 3 sons, ( Josh, Ollie and Tom).

Tom and Ollie were becoming upset as Josh played for a Larkfield league side and he kept coming home with trophies.

Ollie and Tom wanted the chance to play football, so Mo and Sue formed,(with the guidance of the late Ian Greenland), a team that was especially for boys and girls with special needs & learning difficulties, so as to give their sons the chance to play football.

The team soon found that it generated a lot of interest in the Larkfield and Ditton area and more players soon joined.

"We will always be grateful to Larkfield's old secretary, Ian Greenland, for encouraging us to start up back in 1999. Ian Greenland sadly passed away that same year after helping the whole club for many years, and is affectionately remembered as 'Mr. Larkfield'. "

Awareness

As yet, there were not enough special needs teams in the Kent area to form a league and so 'friendlies' in the local area were the staple footballing diet.

Awareness of the youth team increased, [now listed in the Kent Football Association (The Kent Football Association which works with the Kent County Council) and visibility in 'The Kent Messenger newspaper'], the football opportunities increased and during 1999-2000 Chalrton Athletic and Chelsea both ran training sessions for the special needs teams

Tournaments that are 'as far a field' as Brighton and London that have been hosted by such teams as Charlton Athletic, Brighton & Hove Albion and Wimbledon are now regular events.

Growth

For the first 4 years, the squad played as one team; However since the start of the 2003-2004 season Mo and Sue had realised the need for a junior team, but at that time Mo and Sue found it difficult to have a junior team as there were not enough players for two teams.

However, as more players began to join from further a field as Ditton, Lenham, Maidstone, The Medway Towns, Ayesford, East and West Malling, the junior team became a reality. By the end of the 03/04 season there were enough players to make the 'Larkfield Youth Under 14s' & 'Larkfield Youth Under 14's + '

The addition of a new coach, Dave, now goes towards giving the two teams their own identities with Dave training the juniors and Mo the Seniors.

Early Days

Portslade on 8.5.01

2001

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Mo (our coach) Matt P, Ian B, Tom S, Sam L, Ollie S

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Ross K, Josh S, Ben S

Under 12s Juniors and Larkfield Youth players on 6.7.02 in a tournament

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Ollie S, Ollie D, Tom S, Josh D, Matt M, Ross K, Nick L, Middle Row, From Left To Right, Pete R, Mike P, Scott B, Ben D, Andy C

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James S, Ben S, Casper (Sue Sloane's dog), Josh S, Ian B