Clubs, players and officials honoured at annual meeting

The big winners on the night were Division Four outfit Corsham United, who for a second successive season topped the fair play tables; FC Bradford's Mark Robinson, who won the player of the season award; Allan Clarke, who received the best secretary award for his work with Premier Division side Semington Rovers; and Craig Townsend, whose 48 goals for Third Division champions AFC Bell won him the Golden Boot award.

The general meeting was preceded by the league's presentation night which was opened by Julian Humphries, from sponsors Robson Taylor, presenting the league's divisional winners and runners-up with their trophies along with cheques totalling £775.

Corsham Centre topped the Premier Division and picked up £125 with Biddestone Social collecting £50 as runners-up.

Trowbridge-based The Ship and Potterne will be joining them in the top flight next term as winners and runners-up from Division One.

Devizes-based Crown Cosmos headed Division Two with Cooper-Avon from Melksham taking second spot by virtue of an inferior goal difference after both teams finished the campaign with 38 points.

Pole position in the Third Division went to AFC Bell, from Devizes, who finished three points clear of Chippenham-based Pheasant FC.

Steeple Ashton Rangers capped a great first season in the league by taking the honours in Division Four, with another new side, Riverside Renegades, claiming the other automatic promotion spot.

All divisional winners apart from Corsham Centre received £100 each while the runners-up collected £50 each.

Corsham United complete double

CORSHAM United, who joined the league in 2006, followed up their success of last term when they won the fair play award by taking the accolade of overall fair play winners for a second successive campaign and it would take a brave man to bet against the Fourth Division outfit from completing a hat-trick of victories in the sportsmanship department.

Paul Wheeler's side were the big winners when the fair play awards were presented. Along with the £100 for winning their division with an incredible average mark of 8.92 which beat last season's mark of 8.78, they collected a further bonus of £150 as overall winners, taking their bounty for the evening to a healthy £250.

Other divisional winners, who claimed £100 apiece were: Premier Division, Bradford News; Division One, Atworth United; Division Two, The Crown Devizes; Division Three, Blue Circle.

There were also cash a bonus for the sides who finished in second and third places in their respective divisions. North Star A (Premier), Potterne FC (Division One), White Hart Combe (Division Two), White Horse FC (Division Three) and AFC Lyneham (Division Four) all received £60.

Biddestone Social (Premier), Biddestone Arms (Division One), Pig and Whistle United (Division Two), Biddestone White Horse (Division Three) and Wanderers (Division Four) netted £25 each for finishing third in their respective divisions.

These awards and cheques were also presented by Julian Humphries from sponsors Robson Taylor.

White Hart Combe were also in the money when Wiltshire County FA handed out their fair play awards at their recent annual meeting when Trevor Rawlings collected £50 for finishing in fourth place in their respective group.

Townsend wins Golden Boot

AFC BELL striker Craig Townsend was the convincing winner of the Golden Boot award.

The 26-year-old hot-shot topped the goal scoring charts with 48 goals, 11 clear of closest challenger Ed Wilkins, who plays for Hullavington.

Townsend, from Waterside Park, Devizes, who claims to be a midfielder rather than a centre forward, had a fantastic campaign, which saw him just miss out on equalling Antony Dowell's nine-year record of scoring six consecutive hat-tricks.

Townsend was on course to take the Golden Boot last season until he received a suspension from the league, but having learnt his lesson the prolific scorer was determined to complete the job that he should have been done last season when he scored 32 goals from just 12 games before he missed the last four months of the season.

Townsend bagged 48 league goals and he also topped the scoring charts in the presstoprint-sponsored Eric Hughes Memorial Knockout Cup where he scored another 10 goals.

Townsend's combined total of 58 goals included an amazing 12 matches that saw him net three or more times.

Along with the Golden Boot award Townsend received vouchers to the value of £100.

Marc Lanfear proved once again that he is one of the top finishers in the league as his 31 goals for Westbury Rangers A saw him top the list of Premier Division goal scorers. Lanfear's total was exactly the same as last season.

Lanfear, who topped the Premiership charts in 2003, has not been outside the top three leading scorers in the top flight in the last six seasons.

Rowde's Jamie Mullens may have missed out a top two place in the league but his 34 goals were enough to give the villagers' striker the winners gong in Division One. Dolman finished three goals ahead of Potterne front man Myles Hickton who despite missing a few important matches still managed to score 31 goals.

Hullavington might not have been able to maintain their push for a return to Division One, but in Ed Wilkins they found a striker who can at last match the exploits of former hit-man Steve Skull.

Wilkins headed the Division Two scoring table with 37 goals, ten in front of FC Bradford's Mark Robinson.

Fourth Division newcomers Riverside Renegades may have had to settle for runner-up spot in their first season, but the Bradford-based side boasted the top two finishers in the division. Joe Taylor top scored with 36 goals which was two more than his manager, Lance Davis, who ended the campaign on 35 goals.

Robinson crowned player of the year

FC BRADFORD'S attacking midfielder Mark Robinson won one of the closest ever battles to be crowned player of the season.

Robinson finished with 14 votes from 24 matches to win the award from Luke Turvey, of Foresters Arms, who finished just one vote behind Robinson.

The 20-year-old top scored with 27 goals in his team's Division Two campaign but should have scored a lot more.

The midfielder turned striker, who lives in Bradford, is an apprentice electrician and first played junior football for Bradford Youth and Melksham Youth before joining Avon Bradford in 2002. In that same season he transferred to the Dog and Fox Ashley where he made over 90 appearances in four seasons.

Robinson signed for FC Bradford at the start of the 2007-08 season and under the leadership of Pete Collier played more of an attacking role for his team who finished sixth, winning nine, losing eight and drawing five of their 22 games and scoring 78 goals in the process. Robinson bagged 27 which included two trebles and a six-timer.

Along with his trophy Robinson received vouchers to the value of £100 for his achievements.

Reward for hard-working Clarke

ALLAN Clarke, secretary of Premier Division side Semington Rovers, was rewarded for his efforts off the field by claiming the secretary of the year award.

Clarke, who is a trainee communications manager for Wiltshire County Council, took over as club secretary in 2006 from Kevin Lockwood and since then the 31-year-old has been faultless as his administration work has been exemplary which has helped his team to collect cash from the league's incentive scheme over the last two years.

This season's choice of secretary of the year was one of the hardest for many years with as many as nine being up for the award before the numbers were whittled down to three. The award for Clarke was very much deserved as over the past few seasons he has always been in the running for the honour but has narrowly missed out.

Before Clarke officially took over as club secretary he was Semington's second contact but did most of the paperwork as he prepared to succeed Lockwood and has worked hard behind the scenes for a number of years.

Clarke, who first played for White Horse FC in the old Devizes Sunday League, has been involved with Semington since the 1998/99 season.

As well as being Semington's club secretary, he took over as manager three years ago and has had great success, lifting the Division One title in 2007 and gaining a top six finish in the top flight at his first attempt.

Clarke plays for Westbury United on Saturdays and his hobbies outside of football include playing the guitar and golf and he has just won a recent tournament held by his former club White Horse, so when he gives up his role at Semington and he isn't involved with taking his son to football tournaments he might take up golf.

Clarke received a memento and a cheque for £50 from the league.

Stonham kept busy

REFEREES' appointment secretary Gary Stonham was a very busy man as he presented the best level five, six and seven referees with their awards and for the first time an award was presented to the best referee overall.

Pete Lowe was voted best level five official. Lowe, who is 52-years-old, lives in Chippenham and has been refereeing for 12 years on several different leagues.

Lowe was also voted best level five referee in 2002 and 2006 and he becomes only one of three referees who has taken the honour on three occasions - the others being C Ford and Bob Pocock.

Before taking up the whistle, Lowe played for numerous local sides, but along with football he enjoys nothing more than to spend a day at Castle Combe Racing circuit. His other interests away from football include, swimming, gardening and DIY - if any time can be found between work and football.

Westbury-based John McMackin received the best level six award.

John is 53-years-old and has lived in Westbury for the past 17 years. He took up refereeing in 1979 in order to help out with youth matches where there was a chronic shortage of referees.

McMackin is in his 10th season on the league and lists his interests as football and skittles. He believes that Sunday morning football is all about players trying to do what they saw on TV the night before, however putting the theory into practice is the hard bit.

He also believes that some good football is played when the teams are warming up but the banter between the teams is very good.

He would also like to see more ex-players take up the whistle in the future.

It has been a great first season in the middle for top level seven referee Steve Hogan.

The 37-year-old Hogan is new to the area and is stationed in Corsham. Hogan only passed a course set up in Melksham last September and since then he has been kept very busy at weekends.

Before becoming a football referee Hogan was a rugby league and rugby union referee for 15 years, but is now excelling in his latest challenge.

Hogan spent all his early years playing football and therefore had the sense not to be coach as he didn't want to massage all those egos. He has always enjoyed officiating and considers it an exercise in psychology, having all the differing personalities to manage and having to react differently to each one.

Hogan has seen at first hand as a player strong and weak football refs, and he wanted to provide the game with one of the former but at the same time show his personality as a fair arbitrator.

Hogan has proved to be an instant hit with players and is well deserving of his award.

Andy Sainsbury, from Devizes, picked up the best overall referee award for the season. Sainsbury, now 43, has been a referee since the age of 26 when he passed the referees exam in May 91. Before taking up the whistle, Sainsbury played for Chippenham League sides Rowde and Urchfont Lamb.

He reached his class one in March 1995 and was promoted to level two in the 1999/2000 season and reached the Football League panel list in the 2004/2005 season.

He was introduced to refereeing when working with Wiltshire FA's Malcolm Baldwin, who told him: "You're not going to play at no higher standard now, but you might referee at a bit higher standard if you're good enough."

And having taken the advice of Baldwin, a former referee himself, Sainsbury has risen through the ranks and is today one of the league most respected referees.

Outside of football he enjoys watching most sports and likes to play cricket for local village side Potterne. A previous engagement meant that Sainsbury was unable to pick up his award.

It was a busy evening for referees with 10 long service awards being presented on the night.

Devizes-based officials Dave Pound and Neil Fautley and Derek Turner, from Corsham, received awards for 10 years' service to the league as did John McMackin from Westbury. Steve Cook and Julian Sattin, both from Chippenham, received mementoes for 15 years' service, as did Mark Sammut, from Corsham.

League secretary Frank Harvey was rewarded for 20 years' service as was Ian Hailstone. Both men come from Chippenham. Richard "Dick" Colman, aged 64 and from Christian Malford, celebrated 30 years' service to the league.

With the league struggling to retain referees it was very pleasing to present whistle blower Dick Colman with an award for 30 years' service to the league - even though he reached the landmark three years ago.

Colman started his refereeing career in 1972 with the RAF. He moved to Lyneham in 1975 and faced with the choice of refereeing on the Swindon or Chippenham League he opted for the Chippenham League and has been a regular ever since making him the longest serving referee in the league.

During his time in the league he has officiated in over 300 matches. He also referees in the Hellenic League where until a few years ago he was the referees' secretary for the league.

He works as a bailiffs manager at Swindon County Court and away from work his hobbies include playing table tennis and jogging which he does at least three time a week.

His biggest moment in his refereeing career came when he was stationed in Cyprus and he officiated in their Football League on home soil.

In 1983 he was the first ever recipient of the Gordon Blatchford award for services to the league and until this season he was the only referee to have won the award.

Hunt wins Gordon Blatchford award

CHIPPENHAM-based referee Adrian Hunt was the surprised but deserved winner of the Gordon Blatchford award for services to the league as he became only the second referee ever to take the award, which was introduced in 1983.

Hunt, who is 55 and works for Knorr-Bremse in Melksham, qualified as a referee in 1976 and started officiating in the league in 1977 when his first match was between Chapel Knapp and Westinghouse Signals. He is one of the longest serving officials with the league. Before taking up the whistle he played in the league as a youngster with Westmead Albion in 1970 and was a member of their team that won the Knockout Cup in 1972.

Hunt, who has refereed both the WG Parr Trophy and Knockout Cup finals, has received awards for 10, 20 and 30 years' service to the league. He has also officiated in the Wiltshire Times and Chippenham News Mid-Wilts Youth and Minor League, the Trowbridge and District League, Wiltshire County League and Western League and also reached fourth official status in the Football League and Conference League assistant referee.

He joined the league's management committee a few years ago, but due to family commitments can only play a small part, but is at most cup finals and six-a-side tournaments where he makes a very good ball boy and is probably the oldest in town.

Away from football his hobbies include gardening, growing his own veg mainly, and he is also a DJ which he had be doing for a few years now and which he really enjoys.

When not refereeing at grass roots level he can be seen watching Chippenham Town who are among a number clubs that he has supported since a young man.

Others include Manchester City, Wolves, Swindon Town, Rangers and East Fife - and all have a story to tell.

After 30 years of refereeing Hunt admits that he is still trying to get it right, but he approaches every match with a smile on his face which makes him one of the most liked and respected referees in the league. He is looking forward to collecting an award for 40 years' service to the league, providing his legs will last the distance.

Hunt received his award from league chairman John Haigh.

League secretary Frank Harvey presented the top club assistant referees with their awards and a cheque for £25 each on behalf of the sponsor, former league secretary Terry Fallows.

Dave Huntley (Potterne) claimed the Division One honour, with Bill Bayley (Cooper-Avon) taking the Division Two award. Phil Perrett (Corsham Park Rangers) claimed the Division Three accolade and Kevin Williams (Trowbridge Town Supporters' Club) was the top assistant in Division Four.

Brian Strange, from Premier Division side Biddestone Social, picked up a total of £50 as the overall winner.

Fewer matches are postponed

THE annual meeting followed the presentations and it was announced that for a third successive campaign there has been an improvement in the number of matches postponed for reasons other than the weather.

Last season saw 41 matches called off, which was three fewer than the previous season, but there is still room for further improvement and the coming season will see the league get tough with clubs who call off matches for reasons such as stag weekends.

Another concern for the league last term was the playing of ineligible players of which a large number were due to administration errors. Although only one team had points deducted for the offence a number who didn't gain any points were fined for playing ineligible players and one player has been banned from signing on with the league until January 2009.

Next season will see heavier fines imposed and players could find themselves with a lifetime ban from playing in the league if they play while not signed on or under suspension or play for one club while signed to another.

The set up for the 2008/2009 season will take a little time to finalise as the league will operate with 65 teams.

Having lost Southwick Sports before the last season kicked off and Kingfisher during the campaign, British Lion and Crown Cosmos withdrew from the league prior to the annual meeting, calling it a day due to a lack of commitment from players.

With four vacancies all four applicants, British Lion and Cavaliers, both from Devizes, Mash Tun and Melksham Jagerbar were successful in making up the teams who will compete for next season's honours.

The new season will begin on Sunday August 31, 2008 and hopefully conclude on 10th May 2009.

With the new season just over two months away preparations are under way for what is now seen as the curtain raiser to the real thing.

The Chippenham League are staging their annual Ken Clarke Memorial six-a-side competition at West Lavington on Sunday August 10.

Further information is available by contacting Frank Harvey on 01249 654164.

The tournament is open to all adult sides and not just those from the Chippenham League as long as they have a county affiliation number. All proceeds from the event go to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Fund.