AFC Liverpool Grassroots - Website & news

[The Glove]

It was a great night. Rattling the bar and having 2 late one on one saves from the keeper kept us from winning. Some of the payers looked really lively. The future looks bright.

[RedsFan83]

the afc boys are currently beating nelson 1-0 in the joe fagan commemorative trophy

[RedsFan83]

1-1 now

UPDATE: AFC won the Joe Fagan Commemorative Trophy on penalties up in Nelson. Game finished one-all

[Red_hot]

AFC Liverpool have brought the Joe Fagan Trophy home to Merseyside following a dramatic victory over Nelson in Lancashire.

A fine display from the reds resulted in a 1-1 draw at the end of 90 minutes, but true to Liverpool style, AFC mimicked our bigger brothers with a penalty shootout win.

Forward Martin Smeaton opened the scoring for AFC Liverpool after an outstanding turn set him up on goal. The ball came in at pace to Smeaton but he killed it with one touch and set himself up for the finish, scoring AFC Liverpool’s first goal from open play.

AFC Liverpool continued to dominate and only some outstanding saves from the Nelson keeper ensured that the reds went in only 1-0 up at half time.

Nelson scored an equaliser against the run of play after the interval but the reds continued to press.

For the second game running, a fine piece of skill by Dave Eaton resulted in a penalty for AFC Liverpool. Once more Crowder stepped up to the plate but this time the keeper was equal to the task, saving to his right.

The game finished as a stalemate despite almost constant pressure from the visitors.

The game went to a penalty shootout to decide the home of the Joe Fagan Cup. The reds converted all 5 of their penalties, including a fine penalty from Martin Crowder, who bravely chose to take a spotkick despite his earlier miss.

Nelson’s penalties were also high quality, yet one was skied over the bar, putting the cup in AFC Liverpool hands.

Final Score Nelson 1 AFC Liverpool 1 (3-5 after penalties)

[Red_hot]

I think Chris is sleeping with the bloody thing tonight!

[The Glove]

Kop legend Kenny Dalgish has joined boss Rafael Benitez in adding his support to the launch of AFC Liverpool.
The former Reds striker offered words of encouragement to the non-league outfit's Chairman Alun Parry via a personal e-mail that praised the venture, which is aimed at keeping those priced out of Premier League football within the Liverpool family.

"I would just like to congratulate you and everyone involved with AFC Liverpool," said Dalglish.

"It is a brilliant idea and I hope it is a success for you all.

"You can't always judge your success with results on the pitch. Your greatest success could be bringing a part of Liverpool FC to many people's lives. All the very best."

Current Reds manager Rafael Benitez has already given his backing to the club after giving it the seal of approval in an interview with LFC TV.

"I'm pleased with the idea," he told the club's official channel.

"I think that, with more people closer to our club, it's good.

"My message is just to wish them all the best, to score lots of goals and progress to another level. It will be fantastic for us."

The support of two of the most famous names in the Liverpool's illustrious history has pleased Club founder and chairman Alun Parry, who said: "I am delighted that Kenny and Rafa are so supportive of AFC Liverpool.

"We really appreciate their backing and hope that their support encourages Liverpool fans to get behind both clubs.

"We are currently seeking shirt sponsorship, so having Kenny and Rafa on board will be a big help."

AFC Liverpool have already claimed the first trophy in their short history after beating Nelson FC at the weekend in a game honouring the 50th anniversary of Joe Fagan's arrival as a coach at Anfield.

Their next game is away against leading non-league outfit Marine at the Arriva Stadium in Crosby tonight while they will play their first home league game on August 9 against Darwen FC.

Season tickets are now available now from the club. Adults £70, pensioners £25, under-18s £15.

[Pablo]

AFC START WITH A DRAW

Jimmy Rice 17 July 2008


The newly-formed AFC Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw against St Helens in their first ever fixture on Wednesday night.

Martin Crowder was the man who wrote his name into the history books with the non-league side's first ever goal, a 30th minute penalty.

A crowd of about 700 made the trip to Ashton Town FC – and they'd have seen AFC clinch a debut victory had it not been for a Neil Jones spot kick on 51 minutes.

Manager Derek Goulding told Liverpoolfc.tv: "It was a very proud moment to send the boys out for the first time.

"They walked out in front of our fans and there were flags and banners – like our mini-Kop, if you like.

"I told them that people would jump of a roof to play with a Liver bird on their chest – so they had to go out there and do it proud.

"They did that. It was always going to be difficult to live up to the initial hype but this has given us a decent foundation to build on.

"We've got to keep our feet on the ground because all of this is just building up to our first league game of the season."

Next up for AFC is a match at Nelson at 3pm on Saturday when a Joe Fagan memorial trophy will be up for grabs.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drill...80717-0915.htm

It's a good job no one took his advice too literally

Keep us updated on how you get on and good luck for the season ahead!

[Dessy]

Of course there is only one Liverpool FC.

But that doesn't stop Liverpool fans having grassroots clubs to support too. And what better grassroots club to support than one which is run by fellow Reds. It's as simple as that.

Why not just support real local grassroots football then? It still exists and has done for many, many years.

Junior, youth, open age leagues/clubs etc are still running and thats what constitutes grassroots football. Get behind your local school, pub or whatever if you want to support grassroots football. Better still pull a load of kids off the street (no matter their size or ability) and organise and coach them, thats grassroots football.

Semi-pro football aint grassroots imo and AFC seems all about making a statement. I've seen or heard nothing to make me think otherwise.

As for its presence on this site (in the form of a sticky) I think it completely unwarranted, as already stated there is only one Liverpool FC, and its what this site should be about.

[alunevans]

AFC seems all about making a statement. I've seen or heard nothing to make me think otherwise.

As for its presence on this site (in the form of a sticky) I think it completely unwarranted, as already stated there is only one Liverpool FC, and its what this site should be about.

Kenny Dalglish, John Aldridge and Rafa Benitez all disagree with you. As does the club itself.

[Dessy]

Kenny Dalglish, John Aldridge and Rafa Benitez all disagree with you. As does the club itself.

On what exactly? The presence of AFC on this website? The true meaning of grassroots football?

Good PR for the Club mate, thats all. Although it hurts me to say it LFC have been poor supporters of grassroots football for many years unlike our neighbours (EFC) who, to give them their due, have always been very active at grassroots level. Giving you guys a pat on the back is easy for them.

Don't get me wrong, I hope AFC achieves its goals and goes on to be very successful at what it does but lets not kid ourselves that its for the good of grassroots football and I certainly don't think that we should be force fed AFC throught this site or any other for that matter.

[dww]

I honestly fail to see how having a sticky is force feeding anyone.

[RedsFan83]

exactly - just don't read it if you're not interested. never been anything so simple

there should be a sticky because liverpool fans are involved with the running of this project. at the end of the day it's just a bit of a laugh, no harm

[MrMichael]

Several longstanding members of this community, who've contributed a lot to it, are heavily involved in AFC, and have long and consistently argued on this site and in a myriad of other places, that the idea is about giving Liverpool fans somewhere to go watch football on a Saturday afternoon, at a price that can be genuinely afforded, whilst still maintaining their identity as fans of Liverpool football club. Its a great idea imo, they're adding something both to non-league football, and to the the world of liverpool fc, not taking away from it. Its an initiative by our fans, for our fans, and very strongly linked to our club, and for those reasons this one isolated sticky thread is more than justified I reckon, and I just don't see that its force-feeding anyone.

[The Glove]

As for its presence on this site (in the form of a sticky) I think it completely unwarranted, as already stated there is only one Liverpool FC, and its what this site should be about.

This site is a Liverpool fans forum. AFC Liverpool is run by Liverpool fans.

[alunevans]

On what exactly? The presence of AFC on this website? The true meaning of grassroots football?

Good PR for the Club mate, thats all. Although it hurts me to say it LFC have been poor supporters of grassroots football for many years unlike our neighbours (EFC) who, to give them their due, have always been very active at grassroots level. Giving you guys a pat on the back is easy for them.

Don't get me wrong, I hope AFC achieves its goals and goes on to be very successful at what it does but lets not kid ourselves that its for the good of grassroots football and I certainly don't think that we should be force fed AFC throught this site or any other for that matter.

I think you're being semantic. Your definition of grassroots is more purist and fair enough, but you know what we mean and so does everybody else.

If you can't afford to go the game and want a lower league, affordable team that you have a connection with, then a non league team in LFC's image with LFC's seal of approval does the job.

That's what I wanted, so I started it off. If I'd wanted to be a football manager to 11 year olds I'd have done that. But it wasn't. I wanted this.

And besides, others will do the junior coaching far better than I will. And good luck to them too.