Photo by Diane Vose, Wiltshire Times
TREASURER of White Horse Football Club, Clive Black, was recently presented with the Gordon Blatchford award, in recognition for all his hard work and dedication to the club.
The club committee nominated Clive for the award to thank him for everything he has done over the years. President Ken Clarke presented the award to Clive at the awards ceremony at the Gladstone Liberal Club, Chippenham.
In 2007, when playing numbers were dwindling and recruiting new members was difficult, Clive took over and since then, the club has gone from strength to strength. They have been promoted year on year and now play in the Chippenham Premier League.
Rob Hart, club secretary wrote to the Chippenham and District Sunday League to put Clive forward for the award. He wrote, “Calling Clive just the treasurer of the club is an injustice. Particularly over the last seven years Clive has been a player, manager, acting chairman, linesman, coach and gm.
“Throughout the league there are numerous people who put countless hours of their week into making sure that their clubs run smoothly. In my opinion none do it as well as Clive.
“The club is financially sound and is run by a strong and committed committee.
“Every year the club has had a successful end of year awards ceremony and have also been able to raise a significant amount for charity at this event, supporting the neonatal intensive care unit at Bath RUH (one of our player’s children owed their life to this unit). He arranges golf trips for ex-members of the team and has also arranged visits to the greyhounds and curry nights to help boost club finds. All of these are incredibly popular amongst the players.
“The club’s ethics are based on family and enjoying Sunday league football. We are now the biggest Sunday league club in Westbury and have more players signed on than any other Chippenham Sunday League team.
“It is not understating Clive’s role in this by saying that this success is due to his hard work and commitment. Clive’s on field presence has somewhat dwindled in recent years. Every week he runs the line for our A team and manages the squad. Every week he prepares notes so that he can give a rousing speech to the team. Every week he supplies a match report.
“If the league had more Clive Blacks then it would certainly make everyone’s jobs who are involved with the CDSFL a lot easier. By creating a successful team both on and off the pitch, Clive thoroughly deserves this recognition.”
Pictured: Ken Clarke presenting Clive Black (left) with his award. Photo by Diane Vose, Wiltshire Times
