Steven Simmons from Troon AFC Youth has been announced as the Nationwide Mutual Respect Award winner for January 2022 for his tireless work for the 12 teams at the club.

Steven has been described as a 'tireless community ambassador - local legend only goes part of the way to describing his essential position within our community and club.'

The Nationwide Mutual Respect Award, as part of The Football Association's Respect Campaign, aims to help make grassroots football more respectful and positive.  

The Nationwide monthly award - which was introduced just last year - recognises outstanding contributions, achievements and behaviour in grassroots football across the country by young players, coaches, teams, parents and referees.

Steven receives a trophy, the accolade of being the Nationwide Mutual Respect Award winner and also wins tickets to a forthcoming England game.

Steve said: "I am blown away to win the Nationwide Mutual Respect Award for January 2022. 

"We have worked hard over the past few years to increase our children’s approach in our area to respect on the field by introducing a few measures before and after the game. 

"On arrival at a match our children go over to say hello to the opposition players and coaches. 

"The usual fist pump and “have a good game” is said between our players and the opponents when lining up. 

"We have a 'don’t question the referee's decision' policy which enforces the FA “Respect the Referee” campaign. 

"After the game, our players always give three cheers to the opposition parents and applaud them. 

"We get our children to attend local community events such as beach clean ups, village fetes and events raising money for local charities - instilling a “local community is important” mentality for them. 

"As we live in one the most deprived areas in the country, we work closely with the local foodbank holding several collection days throughout the year which the children go to local stores and collect for the Charity. 

"I’m very proud to be part of a fantastic local club with an amazing community spirit whose members show respect on and off the field."

The recommendation from Steven's community for the Nationwide Mutual Respect Award said: “Steven runs 2 or 3 teams at any one point, is a keen committee member, massively promotes the club to the local community and supports all of the coaches from 12 other teams in the club. 

"He is always quietly getting on with essential pitch maintenance, liasing with the youth league regarding matters, organises the pitch allocation, promotes best practice and respect plus encourages further learning opportunities for our coaches.

"He has set up a youth development scheme within the club to ensure a future batch of in-house trained coaches and assistants are in the pipeline.

"He is the bridge between youth and adult football in our club and a tireless community ambassador. 

"Local legend only goes part of the way to describing his essential position within our community and club."

If you know someone you would like to nominate for the monthly Nationwide Mutual Respect Award, please follow the link below.

Nationwide Mutual Respect Award