FC Halifax Town: “We should be used as a powerful tool to benefit the community” says Nichol

The recent conversion of FC Halifax Town’s community programme into a registered charity is a seal of approval for the work Steve Nichol has done in developing the scheme.

If the idea is to reach as many people as possible in Calderdale, then the programme is definitely on the right track.

The main bulk of its activities are football based and include Shaytots, for children aged six months to four-years-old, community futsal sessions for five-16-year-olds, advanced sessions for under 10s, under 13s and under 16s, school sessions, holiday courses, tournaments such as the Adam Heslop Cup, the National League Trust under 11 Cup and the Schools Half-Time Competition on home match days, and the match day experience, giving local junior clubs the chance to receive training sessions, meet a Town first team player through a Q&A and be ball boys.

“In the 2019/20 Adam Heslop Cup there were five events, 46 school teams participated - 29 mixed and 17 girls teams - and over 400 children participated,” says Nichol, director of youth, junior and community football development at FC Halifax Town.

“There has been a 35 per cent increase in schools participating and a 25 per cent increase in the number of children participating from the previous year.

“On a pre-Covid weekly basis, we typically delivered school sessions at Elland, Gleddings, Warley Town, Sacred Heart, Bowling Green, Barkisland, Ling Bob and St Josephs.

“Most of our projects are football based, they also link together allowing children or young people with varying interest or ability levels to participate in a way that suits them.”We run a number of evening coaching sessions for children aged between five and 16 years old, some children attend more than one weekly session. We operate advanced sessions for children between 10 and 13.

“We run futsal sessions which take place indoors, holiday courses, school sessions.

“We partner schools in lots of different ways and try to meet some of their physical education needs, be that delivering PE based sessions, after school clubs or teaching training programmes.

“We also run Shaytots sessions for children aged six months to four years old, which have full parental participation. This is an excellent project for getting families active and really helps children develop their balance, coordination, numeracy, literacy, and social skills through sport.

“We have created a framework that would allow a child to start with us at the age of six-months and they could remain in our programme up to the age of 18.  We hope to create a fun, enjoyable and inclusive feel to our programmes underpinned by a high-quality syllabus.”  

The charity, the FC Halifax Town Foundation, has four trustees. In addition to Nichol and Nick Walker, there are four part-time coaches and three volunteers, as well as seasonal coaches and volunteers who support more ad-hoc activities.

Nichol says the conversion to becoming a registered charity brings the football club and the community group in line with the requirements of the EFL and National League, which is essential should The Shaymen be promoted.

“There’s been a small group of volunteers on the community group over recent years, amongst others Pam Burton, Roger Bottomley and Kelly Gilchrist, who have done a wonderful job to run the community group, serving the needs of the local community under the umbrella of the football club,” Nichol said.

“My remit since my appointment has been to develop the football model below the first-team and develop our community initiatives.

“We’ve tried to link the two so there’s some synergy between them.

“There are a small group of trustees who oversee the Foundation, and Nick Walker and myself report to them about our plans moving forwards and how we’re looking to tackle certain initiatives in the local community.

“Covid has hampered some of our initiatives and as a group of trustees it is a requirement to meet on a regular basis, obviously this has not been as easy recently.

“We are looking at how some of our activities will be affected and see how they could be implemented in the short term. We are also in the process of planning new initiatives to meet some of the needs that have been highlighted during the pandemic.

“For example, physical activity levels in Calderdale are slightly below the national average, of course inactivity during lockdown will increase.

“Recent studies have highlighted the significant impact of the pandemic on children’s health, nutrition, education and mental wellbeing.

“It has been suggested that more than eight in 10 children reported an increase in negative feelings during lockdown.

“What we do know is that active children are happier, more resilient and generally possess higher levels of mental wellbeing.

“As well our current sessions we are looking at ways in which we can encourage home-based activity sessions to try and get children exercising everyday and how we can provide advice to families around developing a healthy lifestyle.  

“A lot of our work is accountable. If we receive funding for projects, we have to evidence the impact the projects have be that through case studies, evaluations or stats.

“We are thankful to the organisation who have supported our work; RSA, The National League Trust, Megson Utilities and The Community Foundation of Calderdale.

“There is a real need for support in some areas, this has been especially evident during the pandemic.”

Nichol says the club does feel a responsibility to use the name of FC Halifax Town to try and connect with people in the community in a positive way.

“The rewards are obviously quite different to achieving three points on a Saturday,” he said, “but we hope our projects can bring a long-term positive impact on the lives of a lot of people and help improve physical health or mental well-being.

“Football and FC Halifax Town can and should be used as a powerful tool to benefit the community.

“Whilst we can provide a pathway to talented young players, one of our wider aspirations is to engage young people in physical activity, get them to enjoy sport and see the long-term benefits sport can bring to their life from a health or well-being perspective.

“There’s a lot of things we’d like to do going forwards, like accessing parts of the community we don’t currently and support some of the wider social needs through football.  

“It should also be recognised that this brings a number of benefits back to the football club, for example, the schemes provide kudos, increase awareness and reputation, provide a presence across the local community and can help to widen the fan base.”

Nichol has worked for The Shaymen since April 2013, but believes there is still a lot more to be achieved in his role.

“If I walked away from it now, I’d certainly have an easier life!” he said.

“There is an infrastructure in place and a lot of good people involved in our schemes, be that our current staff, volunteers or trustees. Many of whom go and above and beyond to move things forward.

“In truth, I feel we have only scratched the surface, as a team we do well with the resources we have.

“Whilst we are comfortable with what has been achieved there’s still a lot, we want to do to ensure we keep moving forward and growing.”