Darlaston Town 1874 are delighted to announce that this coming Season the Club will be fielding eight Junior sides, following a successful recruitment drive at the end of last Season.

Previously, the club formed an under 15’s team, which played for a single season, this is the first time that the Club has committed wholesale to forming a Youth Section.

All of the teams playing in the Darlaston Town (1874) colours next Season were existing teams playing Junior football last year representing other clubs and none are fresh starts. The Club will be fielding two Saturday teams in the Midland Junior Premier League at Under 12’s and Under 16’s and a further six teams on Sundays in the Walsall Junior Football League, two teams at each of the following age groups Under 13’s, 14’s and 16’s.

The Club is extremely pleased and excited at this new development and it will be wonderful to look over our pitches on Saturday and Sunday mornings to see youth teams playing in Darlaston Towns blue and white stripes.

The Youth Section will be chaired by Darlaston Town (1874) main committee member Anton Allen who tells me he is well known in local football circles, with Secretary Rich Cooper a newcomer to our club, and two Child Protection and Welfare Officers in ex-Darlaston Town (1874) Committee Member and club stalwart Nicola Waite and another newcomer Coz Beech. Darlaston Town (1874) Vice Chairman Garry Hale will also be acting as a Liaison Officer between the main club committee and the Youth Section.

In speaking to Youth Chairman Anton Allen over the weekend, he said “I would like to say a big welcome to all our new teams who have come under the Darlaston 1874 name. As many of you are aware we are now into our second five-year plan, which included the aim to establish a Youth system that would automatically feed youth players into our First Team in years to come and provide a proven and achievable pathway for the Youth Players”.

“As Youth Team Chairman I was very surprised and pleased with the response we received from existing teams who were expressing interest and wanted more information as to how things would work. I am looking forward to an exciting Season and watching all our new teams in action.

The support that we have received from the main Darlaston Town (1874) Club Committee and Directors, especially Darlaston Town (1874) Vice-Chairman Garry Hale and new Youth Section Liaison Officer who with myself met up with all the teams that had expressed an interest in joining the club as it was important that all new teams should follow the same ethos as the first team. It is extremely important that any team interested in joining had to be happy with our Youth set up both on and on and off the field.

Club Chairman Neil Chambers and Club Secretary Gill Preece have also been nothing but outstanding and the Directors and Committee would like to welcome all of the new players and their parent to the club. I personally would like to wish all of the teams good luck for the forthcoming Season.”

To start a fresh-start Youth System with eight teams is quite unusual for a Club of our size. Over the coming Seasons we intend to grow the number of teams playing under the Darlaston Town (1874) name, in both Midland Junior Premier League and also Local Youth Leagues.

We intend to utilize the main Club website for the publishing of all team results, fixtures and articles and also use the main Club Facebook and Twitter feeds. So please watch out for any adverts and fundraising events that any of the teams will be posting over the coming weeks and months.