2009 In Review

2009 was a great year for our 27 junior divisional teams, of which 5 were represented by girl’s teams in each age group U12 to U16. From these 27 teams we won two premierships, twelve teams featured in the first round of the final series, six progressed to the grand finals and from that we had THREE grand final winning teams.

Congratulations go to the coaches, managers and players of the following teams,

U11 Division 7 (Finalists), U13 Division 1 (Finalists), U13 Division 2 (Grand Finalists), U13 Division 3 (Finalists), U14 Division 1 (Finalists), U14 Division 2 (Grand Final Winners), U14 Division 4 (Finalists), U15 Division BJL (Grand Finalists), U15 Division 2 (Premiers and Joint Grand Final Winners), U16 Division 3 (Grand Final Winners)

I trust that season 2009 offered you and your family a positive and enjoyable football experience and we welcome you all back for season 2010.

What’s ahead for 2010

The 2009 season may be well and truly over for most, but things have not stopped at Redlands United. Redlands United Football Club was chosen as one of the six Football Brisbane club entities to participate in the Rebel Sport Junior Premier League representative program, U12 to U15 boys, for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The Rebel Sport Junior Premier League is an elite development program run by Football Queensland and these teams will compete in an elite representative competition with teams from the five other Brisbane zones as well as the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Gold Coast and Northern NSW representative teams. Trials for the RSJPL representative teams are under way with some great new talent coming to our club. Whilst the RSJPL representative program is very exciting for our club it will in no way detract from our junior divisional player and coach development programs in place for 2010.

2010 also sees the appointment of Niall McCarthy as Director of Football, taking over from Neil Meldrum, who our thanks must go out to for his excellent contribution to the growth and forward direction of our junior development program over the last 2 years. Niall will be assisted by Graham Fyfe in the role of Junior Development Officer and Wayne Knipe in the newly created position of Small Sided Football (SSF) Development Officer. Niall and his team have in place for 2010, an advanced player identification and development program planned for U11 – U16 divisional players and development programs planned for U8, U9 & U10 SSF players. The successful Nutmegs Football Academy will continue in 2010 and those players interested in developing the football skills further should contact Niall, niall@nutmegsacademy.com.au or Kris Elisseos, kris@nutmegsacademy.com.au for details on the next NFA program.

This year we welcome Mikael Takamaa to junior football as Junior Football Coordinator. Please feel free to make yourself known to Mikael or myself, or to any of the committee members. We are all easily recognised by the white committee shirts.

As the club is run by volunteers we are always keen to welcome further assistance. If you would like to help out in any way please speak to one of the committee members or put your details on the volunteer register at the bar.

2010 Sign on will commence Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January 2010, so keep an eye on the website for further updates relating to sign on dates and times.

Keith Cecil

Junior Chairperson

Redlands United Football Club

junior@redlandsunited.com.au