Guess what? I love football. Guess what again: so do you! Please read to the end for cute photos of your team mates.
CONTENTS
League info
Training
Training feedback
Share the load: carry equipment to training
11s is back -- sign up now!
Kit kitty
Community Corner
Player Shout-Outs
LEAGUE INFO
Have a question about leagues? Get in touch with the relevant league rep on TeamApp or with our head of football Paula!
TRAINING
Remember sign up for training is Mondays (omg that's TODAY), and we always go to the pub afterwards so it's a great way to spend your Wednesday evening.
TRAINING FEEDBACK
⚽️ Reminder from Coach Josh: we've got a feedback form where you can let us know your thoughts on training. Feel free to send this either straight after a session, or when it suits you during the week. ⚽️
👉 You can also feedback specifically on our all-abilities tournaments: We started doing all ability training tournaments a year ago. The idea was to provide opportunities for everyone in the club to meet each other and to reinforce our non-ability ethos. We wanted to check in about how you all found the training tournament two weeks ago. Please feedback here if you have any thoughts or comments, including if you enjoyed!
TAKE THE WEIGHT OFF THEIR SHOULDERS
A shout out to all of the wonderful volunteers who help carry equipment to & from training every week.
Please oh please share the load and volunteer each week - it will take the weight off the shoulders of those who constantly volunteer. As the ole phrase goes: many shoulders maketh light work.
💪 Shout out to these angels who constantly volunteer to pick equipment up: Gaia, Flo P, Georgia I, Holly B, Farida, Catherine L, Hannah-Lily, Alex Rawn, Paula
Please become a ball carrying angel too; we are a team run by the members for the members - this includes getting equipment to training. It does not arrive on its own.
11s IS BACK
Update from River: Big news! The 11s sign ups are available NOW in the store. If you’re keen to play next season please sign up and pay for the bracket that you can afford. Players who signed up for both Experienced and Very Experienced 11s last season are encouraged to sign up to this one. For those who don’t have experience in 11s, the level of competition and physicality is higher than training or the other leagues we enter, but as a team we are still all about playing for the love of the game. This isn’t to discourage anyone! If you’re keen to take part but aren’t sure that it’s for you, come to one of the upcoming all abilities 11s trainings or derbies to check it out first.
NOT READY FOR VERY EXPERIENCED MATCHES??
We are really keen to get ALL of our members playing 11s matches - digging deep together, making memories & having a lovely post match drink after. Matches are such a crucial way to grow you footie, feel part of the GDFC community & make friends. So PLEASE get involved in our exciting 11s set up this season.
The aim:
Frequency: Once a month friendlies, either the first or second Saturday -- these won't clash with V Experienced 11s League
Location: East London - Hackney Marshes (tbc)
Timings: 11am or 1pm kick-off (please add preference to link below)
Two separate ability groups (beg/ int and exp)
Playing against Queer friendly, non-ability based teams that we know and love
Price tbc
How do we make this dream a reality!?
All we need now is YOU ... as we will not be able to go ahead with this without players. So please sign up here if you're interested & share this link with your fellow members.
KIT KITTY
AT GDFC we want to make sure there’s as little as possible preventing you from playing football. For any members that need any financial help towards buying new boots / kit / transport costs etc, we have a kitty to help out. Just get in touch with Gaia at membership@goaldiggersfootballclub.com!
COMMUNITY CORNER
This section is reserved for anyone in the club who has stuff they want to share (job posting, events, other cool opportunities -- whatever!) If you ever want to add anything to this section just email press@goaldiggersfootballclub.com and put 'NEWSLETTER' in the subject line.
OUT TO SWIM SPORTS DAY 17th SEPTEMBER
Check out outtoswim.org/sportsday for more info on a friendly women & non-binary people's sports day happening in Clapham on 17th September. There's some classic sports day stuff going on and a chance to find out more about Out to Swim's amazing teams (swimming, water-polo, open-water swimming) . Sign-up on the website if you're keen to join!
PLAYER SHOUT-OUTS
Hope you all enjoyed training last week! Thanks to our coaches for sorting the last minute changes. Players of the week were Pol for impressive concentration and Ellen for scoring lots of goals!
SATURDAY 11S
The 11s season kicked off this week, and GDFC started strong with a 2-2 draw against last season's third place finisher Lambeth Allstars. The Diggers played gloriously, fielding a back line which the Allstars found nearly impenetrable. While she's an "All Star" herself on Sundays, Kate Allison was a legend today and won herself coaches POTM for her faultless performance as a wing back, snaffeling up nearly all of Lambeth's chances and keeping a cool head under pressure. Captain River picked Farida Dankaro for her POTM for her ability to control the central midfield, play attacking and defensive football and create plays, including one textbook perfect assist. The team rallied in the second half under the tutelage of coach Liv's wise pup Rosie who reminded us, using visual metaphor, to just keep digging. GDFC had by far the most scoring chances and possession of the ball and the point we earned was hard fought and well deserved.
If you are keen to play 11s but haven't signed up please buy your spot in the store! Next match is the 17th. And please come to the GDFC Derby on the 10th at Hackney Marshes where coach Josh will be running a training and then we will play a GDFC friendly 11 Aside Derby. Just keep digging!
SUNDAY 7S
Shout out to our #fans for cheering the Sunday 7s team on. Such fan times!
All Stars had a beautiful week at 7s, hoovering up 4 tasty points thanks to some lovely team play & hard work. Captain Fleur's Player Of The March was Lara who was so strong and so steady in the middle. Amazing to see.
The fans picked Kate as their Player Of The Match - for her hard work, assist & spicy goal.
