Cornwall FA celebrates volunteers at Awards Evening
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.