A Huddersfield junior football club has been given its league’s top accolade for the way it helps charities and players with special needs or going through traumatic times in their lives.

Kirkburton JFC play in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA and has just been named the league’s Club of the Year … and the league has 620 clubs.

One of the main reasons is its young football leadership programme which provides buddies for players with special educational needs to help forge great friendships and fully involve them in the club.

The judges said: “Kirkburton has done some incredible work supporting local charities and families in difficult times. What stood out was the launch of its young football leadership programme for kids with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and highlighted how a child with a rare condition has felt so included as a part of the team.

“Also how the club, through this leadership programme, arranged for another child with SEND to go to a professional game with some of his peers to show this club is going beyond just the grassroots game but to make what seemed impossible, possible.”

 

Max Ellis being carried by his Kirkburton JFC mentors Archie Haigh (left) and Joe Billington

 

The player the club has been supporting is six-year-old Max Ellis who has Kabuki Syndrome, a rare condition affecting only one in 32,000 people worldwide.

Max, of Shepley, has been with Kirkburton JFC U6 for nearly a year now and his mum, Tahnee Morgan, said: “I wasn’t entirely sure how Max would fit in at first as his needs are quite complex. He is globally delayed and has multiple health issues which have quite often held him back in the past.

“Max has faced so many challenges in his short life and the team at Kirkburton has been absolutely unbelievable.

“Everyone was on board to find ways to support Max. His two football buddies, Joe Billington and Archie Haigh, are there every week to aid him during practice.

“These boys have quite honestly blown me away. Their patience, understanding and interest in Max has been extremely heartwarming. Quite often I have to wipe a tear from my eye as I stand pitch side watching these young lads giving my boy the greatest gift … and that’s friendship and attention.

“They make him feel so special and, more importantly, included. They give up their time to help Max in a sport that they clearly love. They’re always so happy, wearing smiles as soon as we arrive. They follow Max’s lead and already have an incredible understanding of him. I’m just over the moon.”

 

Arthur King (front with glasses) at his first Huddersfield Town game with his mentors Jenson Jowett (left) and Clark Pattison along with Arthur’s sister, Masie, and Town goalkeeper Lee Nicholls

 

Another player the club supports is seven-year-old Arthur King from Highburton who also has special educational needs.

He is the child Kirkburton JFC arranged to go to a Huddersfield Town game.

Kirkburton club chairman Dave Jowett said: “A busy football stadium with loud crowd noises can often be a real barrier for kids with SEND. With this in mind, we arranged to use Huddersfield Town’s ‘inclusion room’ which is an indoor safe space specifically designed for kids with SEND.

“Arthur was accompanied by his family and his two new footy friends, Jenson Jowett and Clark Pattison, who support him every week at training.”

Arthur’s mum, Emily King, said: “The power of peers goes beyond helping at training as kids are better at speaking kid. They can move mountains, provide springboards for hurdles and lend a hand for leg ups for challenges that we cannot do alone as adults.

“The Young Football Leader Programme at Kirkburton JFC has been so much more than ‘just playing football.’

“I am so glad I was encouraged to ask for help and the impact it has already had on our son and his siblings is beyond phenomenal. What a day, what a memory, what a magical community football club we all have that will forever be cherished in our hearts.”

Dave added: “We were delighted just to be nominated for this award but to be selected by an external judging panel out of 620 affiliated clubs to be the eventual winner is incredible.

“Community is much more than belonging to something. It’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter.”

 

Alfie Fagan (front and centre) leads his teammates from Kirkburton JFC. Image by: SEAN DOYLE

 

Huddersfield Hub recently reported on another young player greatly helped by the club while going through an incredibly tough time.

Alfie Fagan was diagnosed with leukaemia three years ago when he was just five and has been through three years and four months of gruelling chemotherapy.

That came to an end in June and the great news is that eight-year-old Alfie has now just been given the all clear but will continue to be closely monitored by medics. Read all about Alfie HERE.

His dad, Mark, said: “Alfie has not played three games in a row because of his treatment but the club has been amazing with him. They’ve been so supportive, understanding and made him feel included.”

Mark, who is also the under 8s coach at Kirkburton JFC, and five people from the football club recently walked 20 miles from Calderdale Royal Hospital to the club’s base at Kirkburton Middle School.

This raised money for Alfie’s Angels, which has partnered with Slaithwaite-based charity Ruddi’s Retreat with the aim is to raise £50,000 to buy a new caravan, and also the Leeds-based Children’s Heart Surgery Fund as club secretary and treasurer Jon Emberton’s youngest child, Freddie, was born with heart challenges and is now a happy healthy young boy.

Ruddi’s Retreat provides free caravan breaks for families with children battling serious illnesses such as cancer, have life-limiting conditions or have suffered bereavement. The charity has four caravans on the Primrose Valley Holiday Park near Filey and a fifth near Blackpool.

The walkers from the club were Dave Jowett, his son and under 13 junior player Jenson Jowett, under 11 coach and parent Charlie Sanderson, under 12 parent Philippa Oldroyd and under 8 parent Lee Isaac.

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content and copywriting. 

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Guard of honour for brave Alfie Fagan, 8, as family and teammates celebrate all-clear from cancer