Volunteer

Every one of us is a volunteer.

There are no paid staff here. Every coach, every manager, every person marking a pitch on a Saturday morning is a parent who put their hand up. 155 people, giving roughly two hours a week each.

This is good for you, not just for us.

Clubs usually ask for volunteers by explaining what happens if nobody comes forward. That is true here, but it is not the interesting part.

Volunteering at around 100 hours a year, roughly two hours a week, is associated with a substantially reduced risk of death over follow-up, and with a meaningfully slower rate of cognitive ageing. It is one of the better-evidenced things an adult can do for their own health, and it sits alongside the exercise, the company and the standing outdoors on a Saturday morning that come with it anyway.

We think about this club as a health service that happens to play football. That includes the adults. A parent who coaches is getting the same thing out of it their child is: something to turn up for, people who notice when you do not, and a reason to be outside.

Our volunteers give around 108 hours each a year. If you are on the edge of offering, that is what you would be joining.

£320,000

The social value this club generates every year through volunteering alone. That is our 155 volunteers at Sport England's figure of £2,100 per weekly volunteer per year.

Rounded down. The rate is the wellbeing value of adult volunteering in sport, valued using the Treasury's WELLBY method. Sport England, The social value of sport and physical activity in England, primary value report, November 2025.

What you get back

Volunteering here is not a favour you do us for nothing.

Qualifications, paid for
Coaching and refereeing badges, funded by the club and yours to keep.
Training beyond football
A mental health toolkit and courses on neurodiversity, useful well outside a pitch.
Free tea and coffee
At the club cafes, for team officials. It matters more than it sounds in February.
Club kit
Depending on the role.
The awards evening
Our Stellar Awards, named legacy trophies, and nominations to the county awards.
A right to step back
Roles can be shared, and you can take a sabbatical of up to three months with deputy cover. Say so early and nobody minds.

Where we need people

Three kinds of help. Pick the kind that sounds like you and read the ones underneath it, rather than working down a list of sixteen job titles.

Team roles

Attached to one team, usually your child's. The most common way in, and the easiest to picture.

Committee and club roles

Work that serves the whole club rather than one team. Often the most flexible, because almost none of it happens on a Saturday.

Events and the tournament

Finite, dateable and done. If you want to help without signing up to a season, start here.

What every role has in common

We put everyone through a DBS check and the FA's safeguarding course. Not only the coaches. There are very few roles here that never bring you near a child, and drawing a fussy line between them costs more than simply clearing everybody. Both are free and we arrange them.

The DBS takes two to four weeks, which is why we start it the day you say yes rather than at the end of a long form. Until it comes back you are welcome at sessions, but always alongside someone who is already cleared.

Everything else, including the coaching course and first aid, is paid for by the club and can be done after you have started. All our coaches are first aid trained, so that is one thing you do not have to worry about on the touchline.