‘Very proud!’ - Stone Old Alleynians land top honour at Staffordshire FA awards

Stone Old Alleynians Football Club are celebrating after being named Staffordshire’s Club of the Year.

Representatives from across the club, founded in 1962, collected the accolade at the Staffordshire FA’s Grassroots Football Awards at St George’s Park last Friday.

The club has grown rapidly in recent years, delivering more than 170 sessions a week. Its provision spans youth, adult, veterans’, walking and disability football, alongside community programmes and activities for older people, including pickleball, bowls, golf and cricket.

The club now runs more than 70 teams across boys’, girls’, adult, veterans’ and disability football.

Chairperson Richard Jones said: “It’s taken us five or six years to get to this stage. Although the club has been going for 65 years, we started the junior section six years ago and it has snowballed to 70 teams now.

“We’re very proud and just want to continue with our provision and expanding it.

“If you were to ask me what the key to the success is, it is totally down to the volunteer workforce. When we did our last count, we had over 300 volunteers at the club. Without them, the club wouldn’t function. They are what makes the club tick.

“The award that we have received is all totally down to those volunteers. I am just the person picking up the trophy at the end of the day.”

Jones also praised the club’s veterans, some of whom attended the awards presentation and have been involved for more than six decades.

He added: “It was a really nice night. It was great to see our veterans section there. Some of them have been with the club for more than 60 years.

“Some of those players from the early 1960s were there to celebrate the achievement.”

There is further excitement ahead, with the club’s men’s first team preparing to return to Stone following a major redevelopment of Alleynes Sports Centre.

The £1.2 million project includes a new 3G football pitch, spectator stands and a clubhouse, paving the way for the side to play its home matches in the town again. They currently groundshare with Newcastle Town.

“We’ve done all of this without any facilities of our own,” Jones said. “We let the facilities at Alleyne's Academy, who have been brilliant with us. Without their support we wouldn’t be where we are now.

“In the next couple of weeks, our brand new 3G pitch and stadium will be ready to use. It will be nice, because all of our junior teams train and play at the school, but our men’s first team hasn't been able to play there since 1999. It’s going to be really exciting to return home and play step five football at the school. It’s a really exciting time for the club.”