FROME Town Council has won the Non-League Club Award at the national Football Supporters Association Awards – the first time the award has ever been awarded to a town council.
It marks a golden age for grassroots football in the town as Frome also scored big at county awards recently. Both the girls’ section of Frome Town United youth and the manager of Frome Town Women, Ben Bolland, received awards at the Somerset Football Association (FA) County Awards.
In winning their award, Frome Town Council was in a strong category from across the UK. The town council was chosen for its work securing the Badgers Hill Stadium in Frome and protecting the future of Frome’s lively and varied footballing scene. The judges chose Frome Town Council for their vision of the stadium and buildings as a multifunctional community asset, alongside their work with Frome’s football club.
In October 2022, the council stepped in to prevent the imminent closure of the Badger’s Hill stadium. As a result, the not-for-profit Frome Town Community Benefit Society (FTCBS) was formed to manage the site and develop the stadium as a thriving, multipurpose community asset, as well as working in partnership with Frome Town AFC to maintain the strong footballing tradition in Frome.
The award recognises the achievements of the FTCBS so far, which took over the management of Badgers Hill in August, following the sale.
Lead councillor on the Badgers Hill project, cllr Mel Usher, said, “This national award is a fantastic endorsement of all the hard work put in by the FTCBS, by Frome Town Council and all the members of the community who have contributed to the project.
“The work is far from over, but the future is bright for football in Frome and we’re proud to have retained the stadium and clubhouse for the benefit of everyone in the town. The newly-elected board of directors are looking forward to working with Frome Town AFC, Frome Town Supporters Club and everyone with an interest in the future of Badgers Hill.”
Frome Town Council’s economic development and regeneration manager, Peter Wheelhouse, attended the awards ceremony in London on 4th December, with cllr Lisa Merryweather, Lester Silk from Frome Town Supporters Club and Derek Graham, chairman of Frome Town AFC.
The award was presented by broadcaster, Victoria Derbyshire, at Nobu in Portman Square.
More information about the FTCBS can be found at: https://badgershillnews.org. More about the Football Supporter’s Association is at: https://thefsa.org.uk.
At the recent Somerset Football Association (FA) County Awards, Frome Town United was awarded the Weetabix Wildcats Centre of the Year award and Ben Bolland was awarded Grassroots Coach of the Year Female Pathway.
Ben is also the head of girls’ football at Frome Town United which runs the Weetabix Wildcats initiative that offers girls aged 5 to 11 the chance to get into the sport and is supported by the FA. He says that women and youth football is thriving in the town due to the “supportive structure” of the teams locally.
“I was very proud to receive both awards, for myself and for both Frome Town United and Frome Town Women,” he said. “It is great to be recognised for all the efforts and success in developing a complete female football pathway in Frome as I’ve spent a lot of time and effort for several years getting it to where it is now. But there’s still loads more to do!
“I think that women and girls’ football is thriving in Frome for a number of reasons. Firstly, I think the continued high profile of women’s football and the recent women’s World Cup show that women’s football is a growing sport and provides females of all ages with the chance to get involved and play.
“I think we have a very supportive structure for women’s football in Frome, where anyone can come and train with our junior teams or the women’s team. In fact, we are so popular that we are very full with numbers and always looking for more coaches to come and help us out.
“We also get a great support from the community in Frome, for both our juniors and our women’s team, with families regularly coming to support us and get involved in what we are doing. Setting up the community benefit society to run Frome Town will be another massive opportunity to further support the growth and development of female football in Frome.”
The wildcats were originally started in 2017 by Sarah Davis and Chris Wilkinson, and at the time was one of the first in the country.
