Thu 11th August 2016 | Announcements | By Paul Lawler
I feel very fortunate to be Chairman of a League that is held in such high regard by many people within the sport and fans. I was very proud to hear of so many people praising our competition at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, including the new England Manager, Sam Allardyce.
The League was represented at a celebratory lunch prior to last Sunday’s Charity Shield match to receive the FA’s Respect League Award for the National League System for the work we have done around the FA Respect initiative. League Secretary John Deal and committee member Stewart Taylor, both of whom are instrumental in the roll-out of our Respect initiative, were in attendance.
An FA film crew attended a pre-season game at Prestwich Heys to interview John, Stewart and League Vice-Chairman Geoff Wilkinson about the award. The results can be viewed here:
Our Respect initiative was instigated a number of years ago by former colleague John Cowley, in conjunction with representatives from a number of our clubs. For me, Respect extends way beyond the playing field. Our initiative asks clubs to show respect on and off the field and we ask clubs to feed back on their experience when facing other clubs. This allows us to identify where problems exist and address them quickly. We have managed to increase standards as a result throughout the league, and I hope this benefit is seen by the fans who visit our clubs on matchday.
Turn the clock back 24 hours and I was equally proud to see the league kick off with 44 clubs in the competition for the first time since 2000. I was at Sandbach United on Saturday for their debut game against Holker Old Boys, played in bright sunshine, as is the law for the opening day of the season. Although the result went against the home club, it was great to see so many people enthused and excited by the start of the new season, and demand for the League ‘Group Hopper’ sticker book was high.
Congratulations to the eleven sides who progressed through to the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup and I wish a further eight the best of luck with this week’s replays. There was concern around the FA Cup starting earlier than normal which impacted the start of the League season. Normally our clubs play a couple of games before they start their FA Cup campaigns, but clearly the move didn’t disrupt plans too much.
Unfortunately it has left Fixture Secretary John Reid with a headache after he had to cancel nine league ties due to the number of replays taking place. Although John is an expert at dealing with postponements, this must be the earliest we have lost games into a season! Let’s hope it is not a sign of things to come.
Yours in Sport
Paul Lawler Chairman, The Hallmark Security League
League Secretary John Deal is pictured receiving the Respect award from David Gill, the Acting Chairman of the Football Association.
Thu 11th August 2016 | Announcements By Paul Lawler
I feel very fortunate to be Chairman of a League that is held in such high regard by many people within the sport and fans. I was very proud to hear of so many people praising our competition at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, including the new England Manager, Sam Allardyce.
The League was represented at a celebratory lunch prior to last Sunday’s Charity Shield match to receive the FA’s Respect League Award for the National League System for the work we have done around the FA Respect initiative. League Secretary John Deal and committee member Stewart Taylor, both of whom are instrumental in the roll-out of our Respect initiative, were in attendance.
An FA film crew attended a pre-season game at Prestwich Heys to interview John, Stewart and League Vice-Chairman Geoff Wilkinson about the award. The results can be viewed here:
Our Respect initiative was instigated a number of years ago by former colleague John Cowley, in conjunction with representatives from a number of our clubs. For me, Respect extends way beyond the playing field. Our initiative asks clubs to show respect on and off the field and we ask clubs to feed back on their experience when facing other clubs. This allows us to identify where problems exist and address them quickly. We have managed to increase standards as a result throughout the league, and I hope this benefit is seen by the fans who visit our clubs on matchday.
Turn the clock back 24 hours and I was equally proud to see the league kick off with 44 clubs in the competition for the first time since 2000. I was at Sandbach United on Saturday for their debut game against Holker Old Boys, played in bright sunshine, as is the law for the opening day of the season. Although the result went against the home club, it was great to see so many people enthused and excited by the start of the new season, and demand for the League ‘Group Hopper’ sticker book was high.
Congratulations to the eleven sides who progressed through to the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup and I wish a further eight the best of luck with this week’s replays. There was concern around the FA Cup starting earlier than normal which impacted the start of the League season. Normally our clubs play a couple of games before they start their FA Cup campaigns, but clearly the move didn’t disrupt plans too much.
Unfortunately it has left Fixture Secretary John Reid with a headache after he had to cancel nine league ties due to the number of replays taking place. Although John is an expert at dealing with postponements, this must be the earliest we have lost games into a season! Let’s hope it is not a sign of things to come.
Yours in Sport
Paul Lawler Chairman, The Hallmark Security League
League Secretary John Deal is pictured receiving the Respect award from David Gill, the Acting Chairman of the Football Association.
