Merley Allendale YFC

History

Formation

The club was founded in 1989 by Derek White and John Joyce. A public meeting was held at Flight Refuelling Social Club, attended by 10 boys and their parents, and Merley Flights Youth Football Club was formed. The first team was an Under 11 side, made up of Merley boys, some having played for a year with other league teams, others had left the Merley Cubs team the previous season, run by John Joyce.

The first match was a friendly, away to Blandford which was lost 7 - 1. The first few Bournemouth League matches were also lost, but gradually the team was strengthed as other boys returned to play for Merley from other clubs, and the results improved. Matches were played at Merley First School, who had originally hosted the Merley Cubs team.

Progress

Before long the club had four teams, with Derek White, Val Ashley, Dave Beal and Martin Stevens as the managers. The four teams soon became six, as two younger teams were formed and run by Bob Parkin and Rob Johnson. More pitches were needed, and after protracted negotiations, Poole Borough Council agreed that a Merley club should play at Fenners rather than a team from Bearwood.

Support from Flight Refuelling FC dwindled, they became impatient for the Merley youngsters to become adults, and it was agreed to go separate ways. One or two of the original Under 11 players had started to play adult Football for Allendale FC, based in Wimborne. It was in around 1996 that the club became affiliated to Allendale, in the interests of both clubs. The name of the club changed accordingly.

On 9th June 2002, Merley was awarded F.A. Charter Status. This was thanks to the hard work of Jacqui Groves, Carol Wright, and Simon Wrixon.

The brief history above is mostly taken from the article "In The Beginning" by Derek White which appeared in the April 2000 Edition of the club magazine.

Chairmen

Club Logo

The present club logo, seen at the top of each page on this website, was designed by Richard Steel, son of the then Chairman, Paul Steel in the year 2000.

Honours