Formation History

Woking & Maybury Sports Club was started as a result of a trio of local guys (Abdul Waheed, Mohammed Farooq and Amjad Hussain-Jid-) wanting to start a local football team in the summer of 2005. Discussions led to wanting to provide youth football and then after much thought and after recognising the lack of facilities in the Maybury area as well as the state of local youth (stories in the paper every week of muggings, violence and drugs) it was decided that we should try starting a sports club which would provide organised sports for the local youth.

A meeting was held in the living room of one of the local residents (Abdul Waheed, now our honorary President) where there were approximately 16 other local people who had been involved with local sports in the past. We spoke briefly about what the meeting was about and after a 100% agreement to the idea, the "Woking & Maybury Sports Club" was formed. A Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary were voted in by all present and the initial focus was on the easiest sport to start with, football.

After a couple of hiccups in the opening weeks we started dialogue with the local Councillor, Cllr. Riasat Khan, who pointed us in the direction of the right people to talk to at Woking Borough Council. With great support from Chris Hayes of the Health & Environmental department of WBC we then received backing from the Woking Associartion of Voluntary Services. WAVS advised us on matters such as our constitution and correct formation of a committee and trustees etc.

After the initial buzz of the idea, unfortunately some original supporters faded away due to personal commitments and due to the enormity of the task ahead.

A new committee was formed with huge support from Lesley Kitchen, Director of WAVS and Colin Harland, who was working at WAVS and took on the unenviable task of becoming the new club secretary. Shabir Ahmed became the new chairman with a long term future for the club in mind and young Sajid Hussain, newly employed by Habib Bank in central London, volunteered to become treasurer. Other people from different parts of the community but all with the passion to improve the quality of sports for young people in and around Maybury also joined the club. We were all agreed that discipline and respect were paramount within the club and that we would be providing all of our sports to help build characters and personalities amongst our youth rather than just wanting to win trophies for the club.

We immediately wanted to provide something practical so within a month we had taken on a couple of volunteers who wanted to help provide free football training sessions to under 16s. This was Rabeel (Billu) Ahmed and Sajid Hussain. In the first couple of sessions (September 2005) there were approximately 10 attendees but in the third week after word got out, we had 53 under 16s at the training sessions. The aim of this was to get a football team ready for the 2006/2007 season.

From the youth attending, an under 15´s football team was formed. We managed to get private funding from Bristol based insurance company and Jid's employers, Group Direct Limited. The finance director, Mr Paul Chase-Gardener, had been a strong supporter of the club's formation and wanted to help with the initial progress. The funding paid for the football kit for the junior team and helped get things moving very quickly.

After a little while, young people over 16 were asking us to provide a senior football team as they had never had the chance to play in an 11 a side team. We duly obliged after finding yet another 2 willing volunteers, Qumer Ellahi and Amer Karim, to run the team. Group Direct also funded the kit for the senior team and we were well on our way.

After just 7 months we had 2 football teams in pre-season training. We also continued to provide free football training sessions to under 13´s. Local Maybury beat officer Scott Kemp, a qualified football coach, took these sessions on with the help of another local volunteer Farhan Khan. These sessions were so that we were still providing something for kids to do at the weekend instead of aimlessly hanging around the town or on the streets. Average numbers to this day are 27 for these sessions.

A lot of hard work by all followed and after making our first funding application we were told we had been successful. The funding was courtesy of Surrey Community Actions Local Network Fund (£6906). This was to provide cricket training by a qualified instructor which was free for all under 19´s and to also run martial arts sessions by a qualified instructor for under 11s.

A cricket team was formed from the participants of the training sessions. Numbers at the training sessions averaged 23 every week throughout the cricket season. Mainly kids aged under 16. This was followed by a season of friendly fixtures and ended with a 6 a side cricket tournament where other well established teams were invited to play.

After a fantastic day it was Woking & Mayburys cricket team that won the tournament and the first ever trophy for WMSC. It must be noted that at the start of the cricket training sessions, some of the young boys couldn´t bat or bowl properly!

The cricket attracted much enthusiasm amongst some of the older youth and so a senior cricket team was formed as well as a junior team. The senior cricket team, run by Naveed Zaffar, won all of but one of its league games in the 2007 season and was promoted in its first season in the Wey Valley League.

In the same season the junior cricket team, managed by Majid Fiaz, who was driving all the way from Hounslow twice a week to run the activity, finished a very respectable sixth in the West Surrey Youth cricket League.

The martial arts sessions for Under 11 year olds were held at the New Monument School. These sessions were run by a local qualified martial arts instructor (Nafeel Ahmed). The average numbers at these sessions up until the last session was 25 under 11s every week which is why another volunteer (Mazar Hameed) became involved to assist the instructor. The kids were charged 50pence per session so they would value the sessions and respect all the equipment which was provided courtesy of the funding from the Local Network Fund.

These sessions ended on the last day of school before the summer holidays and we are currently looking for other sources of funding to continue the sessions from November 2007.

Since the formation of the club, we have been supported financially by some local businesses namely, Eden Cars of Weybridge, Boyntons Executive Cars of Cobham, Elite Claims of Woking, Atif Superstore of Woking as well as the Woking Sports Council, the Sheerwater & Maybury Partnership and Woking Police.

We have built great relationships with Woking Borough Council and the Woking YMCA over the last 2 years. We have also been key members in community meetings which have been formed to help with local issues surrounding young people.

We are fast becoming a popular club and are attracting more & more members every season.

Our long term plan is to have a base from where we can run the sports club. We are aiming to secure a home playing ground for our football team in the Maybury area and to have a clubhouse where we can keep our equipment as well as have the facilities in Maybury which nearly every other area within the borough already has. This will help attract more youngsters to sport in the local area and through sport we can guide and empower young people to become community leaders which we strongly believe will help create a more peaceful and harmonious community environment.

The aim of the club is to help local young people of all cultures and nationalities, regardless of gender or race, throughout their journey into adulthood by guiding them and showing them the respect and love that creates a friendly and multicultural society.

We feel that sport is a great avenue that can be used to achieve this.

The club recognises the impact of different cultures and religions within our society. This is why one of our top priorities is to bring sports to local women and girls who are otherwise overlooked or for whom it is difficult to become involved in various activities due to their religious or cultural beliefs.

Without the ongoing guidance and support of WAVS, the leadership of the management committee and the overwhelming help of all of our volunteers, the club would not be the success it is at the moment.

We are always looking for volunteers to help with the running of the club as well as with the physical activities. The club continues to look for funding at various levels for all of our activities and welcomes the help and advice from people with a passion for helping the local youth to become great individuals.