Normally it’s the Alban Arena or some other large venue that is needed to accommodate the day-long, end-of-season presentation for St Albans City Youth’s many teams. This year it was mostly the players’ own front room – although in some cases there were viewers from around the globe.
The thriving youth football club took the awards ceremony online and that allowed people from all four corners of the world to join in.
And there were also some very special guests too with Nick Cox, head of the academy at Manchester United and himself a former City Youth old boy, plus England Lionesses’ star Leah Williamson of Arsenal joining in the fun.
In total the event ran for six hours over six sessions with hosting duties shared between Geoff Watts, Sam Mardle and Sarah Kropman. There were over 1,000 unique log-ins in those sessions with over 2,000 managers, players, friends and family reached.
Some of the international viewers came from France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany while all of the club’s sponsors were individually recognised.
City Youth’s commercial manager Steve Mann said: “What started out as an experiment resulted in a hugely successful event with over 2,000 participants from across Europe and around the world including Australia, the USA, Canada and New Zealand.
“Crucially it was a meaningful and positive experience for our young players and their families.
“And to have been given such inspirational support from City Youth old boy Nick Cox of Manchester United and Leah Williamson of Arsenal and England Lionesses was a thrill for everyone and emphasises both the scale and reputation of the club.”
Each team presented announced their player of the season while there were the usual acknowledgements for those reaching 100 and 200 games for the club.
List of winners:
Girls’ section
U8 Central - Evie Rosenheim
U8 Romans - Nadeen Kelifa-Young
U9 Central - Nell McKinstry
U9 Romans - Liriel Macey
U10 Central - Demi Hall, Jasmine Mercer
U10 Wildcats - Lizzie Baylis
U11 Central - Aoife Flanagan, Alicia Gibson
U11 North - Roxie Kosh
U11 Wildcats - Chloe Nuttall
U12 North - Michelle Lam
U12 Wildcats - Morgan Kirikal
U13 - Marelie Raath
U14 South - Mia Simmonds
U14 North - Rosie Vass
U15 - Hope Hume
U17 - Daniela Monastero
U18 - Amy Cowan
Boys’ section
U7 North - Louis Farrow
U7 South - Harry Kotina
U8 Romans – George Cullum
U8 East - Sebastian Drummond
U8 Central – Charlie Brennan
U8 South – Oscar Thomas
U8 West – Orla Henry
U9 North – Jacob Newman
U9 South – Toby Thompson
U9 Lions – Finley Maguire
U9 Tigers – George Lim
U9 Gladiators – Max Whittington
U9 Titans – Remy Bustamente
U9 West – Freddie Banks
U10 North – Ollie Robinson, Junior Mitchell
U10 South – Finlay Seabrook
U10 West – Charlie Latham
U10 Centurions – Jackub Milkas
U10 East – Alex Mcandrew
U11 North – Olic Fan
U11 East – Seth Coetzee
U11 South – Tommy Gow
U11 West – Jack Burke
U11 Orient – Tom Banks
U11 Romans – Lucas Scott, Nick Denyer
U11 Central – Harry Watts
U12 South - Alex Poole
U12 Gladiators – Vincenzo Di Girgenti
U12 Orient – Alfie Long
U12 Victoria – Luca Ward
U12 West – Matthew Ridgway
U12 Centurions – Seth Montet
U13 Central – Oliver Chisholm
U13 West – Josh Ladyman
U13 Spartans – Luca Castaldo
U13 Orient – Ed Purple
U13 South – Owen Weaver
U13 Dragons – Joshua Francois
U13 Arrows – Fin Murphy
U14 Victoria – Archie Hobbs, Ed Askam
U14 Boreal – Ali Nawar
U14 Orient – Arthur Merridan
U14 South – Cameron Choudhury
U15 East - George Wilson
U15 West – Finn Geoghegan
U15 South – Nidiyan Sivakumar
U15 EJA - Riccardo di Trolio
U16 Boreal – George Pedder, George Sippett
U16 South – Owen Wiseman
U17 East - Sebastian Pound
U17 South - Luca De Oliveira
U17 Central – Joe Moss, Robbie Ferguson
U18 Orient - Tom Cox
U18 EJA - Alex Lankshear
Disability section - Tom Ward
Long service awards:
200 appearances
Louis Baker-Madec
Jack Carmichael
Danny Fowler
Adam Johnson
Stefan Martin
Emily Sibley
Will Skinner
100 Appearances
Jem Andrew
Tom Bailey
George Beasley
Sam Beasley
Jake Berry
Lucas Berry
Dean Bladon
Sam Boca-Mapp
Emma Bracey
Ben Browning
Max Butterworth
Scott Cole
Luke Collins
Olivia Crisp
Ollie Denyer
Ethan Evans
Joshua Francos
Dylan Gacek-Campos
Alfie Gauthier
Finn Geoghagan
Mackenzie Gibson
Aayan Hussain
Ollie Jay
Thomas Jennings
Charlie Johnson
Alex Kirton
Jack Longbottom
James McLeod
Callum Maguire
Matthew Martin
Shay Murphy
Ali Nawar
Leon Negus-Roman
Oscar Noble
Jack O’Rahilly
Luca Ortone
Olivia Pickersgill
Ollie Porter
Liam Powell
Edith Shakespeare
Will Shepherd
Rebecca Smith
Finn Sweeney
Toma Tashev
Isaac Templeton
Ruby Tickner
inlay Thomas
Kiera Ward
Louis Warren
Caitlin Wheeler
Josh White
George Wilson
Joshua Woodley
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