On Thursday evening Cornwall FA held its annual Grassroots Football Awards at the Waterside Resort in Lanivet. We were delighted to have over 100 guests in attendance which included nominees, board, council, staff and special guests. Earlier this year the FA re-launched the awards with a brand new look along with a number of new categories, celebrating an even wider range of the football community. A fantastic 98 nominations were received over the 10 categories, the biggest number of nominations ever received for the County. A panel which consisted of board members, staff and members of the football community met to shortlist for each award and choose the eventual winners, a very tough decision due to so many impressive nominations.

On the night our guests arrived, looking fantastic and somewhat different to the usual football attire we see them in and despite the horrible weather everyone was in good spirits. The evening kicked off with the Cornwall FA Chairman, Geoff Lee welcoming the room and thanking the whole volunteer workforce from around the County. The guests were then treated to a buffet and drinks before the awards themselves begun.

After our guests had enjoyed the food we got to the main event, the reasons our volunteers had travelled from all around Cornwall to attend, the announcement of our award winners. A big thank you to Matt Chivers, Matt spent many hours putting together the video for the awards, highlighting each of our nominees in a short clip to show the great work they are doing. The full list of nominees and winners for each of the categories are;

Charter Standard Club of the Year 

Winner- RNAS Culdrose FC

Runner Up- Tregorrick Park FC

Runner Up- St Agnes AFC

Coach of the Year

Winner- Shaun Parker - Helston Athletic

Runner Up- Ciaran Nash- RNAS Culdrose FC

Runner Up- Mike Harwood- Foxhole Stars

Grounds Team of the Year

Winner- Ieuan Gregory- Hayle AFC

Runner Up- Matthew Jenkin- St Columb Major

Community Project of the Year

Winner- St Austell Walking Football

Runner Up- Cornwall disAbility League

Runner Up- Cornwall Girls Football League

Charter Standard League of the Year

Winner- Kernow Youth Football League

Match Official of the Year

Winner-Marc Rose         

Runner Up- Colin Penhorwood

Runner Up- Josh Morford

The Respect Award

Winner- St Mawgan FC

Runner Up- Melville Benney- Falmouth DC

Supporter of the Year

Winner- Kate Todd- Torpoint Athletic

Runner Up-Cameron Weldon- Truro City

Volunteer of the Year

Winner- Treve Matthews- Wendron United FC

Runner Up- Andrew Plenty- RNAS Culdrose FC

Runner Up- Nikki Perryman- Cornwall disAbility League

Runner Up- Roland Thomas- Gwinear Churchtown

Young Volunteer of the Year

Winner- Eloise Schutte- Wadebridge Town FC

Runner Up- Jack Morgan- Newquay AFC

Runner Up- Mollie Dring- St Agnes AFC

Administrator of the Year

Winner- Eleanor Bonsor- Torpoint Athletic Juniors FC

Runner Up- Dave Hitchens- Charlestown Youth

Outstanding Services to Cornish Football

Winner- Melville Benney- Falmouth DC

Runner Up- Nick Mallaber- Frogpool & Cusgarne

Runner Up- Reg Hambly- Camelford

A huge congratulations to all of our winners, runners up and those nominated throughout the process, this was our biggest awards ever and we hope next year will be even bigger!

Finally, we would like to thank Steve Lawrence, Board Member and our compere on the evening who did a fantastic job. Thank you also to the Waterside Resort for their hospitality of the evening, the venue was wonderful.