REPORT FOR SEASON 2022/23
Nothing has emphasised the decline of the MGBSFL more than this fact: the Maccabi Masters Football League had more teams in their solitary division than any of the MGBSFL's divisions for season 2022/23. So few were the number of teams entering the League that the composition of the three divisions, from the Premier down, were nine, eight and eight.
Borussia Jewdinese, the reigning Cyril Anekstein Cup holders, withdrew early on to leave the top-flight with eight teams, meaning that for the first time since the MMFL was formed in 1999, the Masters division was the largest with nine teams! Indeed, a sad reflection of difficult times for Maccabi football.
Last summer, a new FIFA-accredited playing surface was laid at Silver Jubilee Park where we were offered an earlier slot between 9am and 11am, half an hour earlier than the previous season. With the MMFL pulling out of SJP due to the proposed earlier kick-offs, the Club snapped up the vacant weeks for the Second Team. Having lost Metropolitan Police Bushey mid-season during the previous campaign, this welcomed development fulfilled our needs for another home venue. Kerry and I were fortunate to officiate in the inaugural match on the new pitch in June 2022 and reported back to the Club with raving reviews - it's a great surface and I'm very proud that TFFC enjoy the opportunity to play at such a fabulous venue.
The First Team's task in Division One always looked tough and with only 14 league fixtures to play there was no room for error. On the two previous occasions that the Firsts faced a 14-match fixture list, the withdrawal of teams during the season caused the shortage. The Second Team, in their second season back, faced a similar scenario with only eight teams in their division.
Both teams struggled throughout the campaign and disappointingly finished in seventh place, one from bottom. The Old Boys Team could not match the heroics of the previous season and managed to finish in sixth place in the Masters League.
Unsurprisingly the MGBSFL adopted supplementary Cup competitions to give teams extra fixtures, otherwise the 2022/23 season would have petered out extremely early, Collectively, the Club's three teams had no fewer than 17 Cup ties to fulfil, which included nine group fixtures between them. There were two ties in the Cyril Anekstein Cup (both forfeited by the Firsts and Seconds), two quarter-finals in their respective David Wolff divisional cups, three group games per team in the MGBSFL Super Cup/Barry Goldstein Trophy and MMFL Cup, two quarter-final ties in the Super Cup, and one semi-final tie for both the Firsts and Old Boys in their respective competitions.
One of the group fixtures in the MGBSFL Super Cup/Barry Goldstein Trophy brought Fortune's two MGBSFL teams together. Played at Silver Jubilee Park in late February, it was the Club's first competitive meeting between the Firsts and Seconds for 43 years. Kerry and I participated as assistant referees – there was no way I wanted to miss the game! Despite Simon Linden's team winning 8–1, the Second Team excelled by winning the group and qualifying for the last eight which certainly was not on the cards after the opening game.
There were not many highlights during the season in terms of positive results but the Second Team's superb 1–0 defeat of Real Madreidel of Division 1 ranks highly in the list of shocks, and deservedly has been included in the Club's 'Epic Games' series on the website. This is the first time ever that the Second Team have beaten a team from a higher division in a competitive fixture. Sadly the game was marred by a mass confrontation at the end of the game which was the fault of a Madreidel thug, leading to an E20 fine against the Club for failing to control our players, but it cannot take away the Second Team's excellent performance.
With the possibility of some tangible reward for an otherwise disappointing season, both the First Team and the Old Boys Team had the opportunity to reach their respective Cup finals. In a very tight game played at Brunel University the Firsts lost to a controversial goal 15 minutes from the end against Real Salt Beef, whilst the Old Boys lost 4–1 against Hendon Harriers, a team they had beaten 5–2 in the MMFL a few weeks previously. Simon Black's team managed a 7–0 win against Marshside which was the Club's best score of the season.
Again we encountered several forfeited games which always are disappointing, but given the opposition in these games and previous score-lines I can understand why we took this stance. When a team is struggling for players and morale is flimsy the last thing you want is an absolute hammering which could spell doom for a particular team. So looking back, even though I hate the number of forfeitures we have had in recent years, at the time the correct decisions were made in the best interests of the Club. Although we agreed a compensation scheme in principle at last year's AGM (where we charge players for loss of income), we did not impose this due to doing well on the financial side.
A word or two of thanks to go to Simon Linden who has decided to step down as First Team manager. I have been long aware that Simon needs to juggle work, family life and football commitments – attending Spurs games as well as managing the Firsts – have been extremely demanding and something had had to give. Apart from one short break last season, he served as manager since 2016 and turned the Firsts around, finishing runners-up in four competitions during his stint in charge. Simon has decided to be more proactive on the management side in coordinating our three teams as Director of Football. In this respect, he will oversee the teams on the playing side. Also stepping down is Jacob Kalms as Second Team manager, a role he undertook for two seasons. Managing the Second Team was never easy and Jacob was blighted by mass unavailability at times but somehow managed to fulfill the majority of fixtures over two campaigns. So thank you to Jacob, too, for his involvement as a team manager for the Club.
Overall on the administration front the season progressed smoothly. In this respect I would like to single out both Jonathan Abrams and Kerry Higham who both did sterling jobs in their respective roles. I always appreciate the work of any team manager so a big thank you also to Simon Black of the Old Boys Team as well as the two managers mentioned above.
As will be covered in other Officers' reports, financially the Club did very well to cover a record expenditure during the 2022/23 season. This feat was one major highlight of an otherwise disappointing season.
NIGEL KYTE, 1st June 2023
Nothing has emphasised the decline of the MGBSFL more than this fact: the Maccabi Masters Football League had more teams in their solitary division than any of the MGBSFL's divisions for season 2022/23. So few were the number of teams entering the League that the composition of the three divisions, from the Premier down, were nine, eight and eight.
Borussia Jewdinese, the reigning Cyril Anekstein Cup holders, withdrew early on to leave the top-flight with eight teams, meaning that for the first time since the MMFL was formed in 1999, the Masters division was the largest with nine teams! Indeed, a sad reflection of difficult times for Maccabi football.
Last summer, a new FIFA-accredited playing surface was laid at Silver Jubilee Park where we were offered an earlier slot between 9am and 11am, half an hour earlier than the previous season. With the MMFL pulling out of SJP due to the proposed earlier kick-offs, the Club snapped up the vacant weeks for the Second Team. Having lost Metropolitan Police Bushey mid-season during the previous campaign, this welcomed development fulfilled our needs for another home venue. Kerry and I were fortunate to officiate in the inaugural match on the new pitch in June 2022 and reported back to the Club with raving reviews - it's a great surface and I'm very proud that TFFC enjoy the opportunity to play at such a fabulous venue.
The First Team's task in Division One always looked tough and with only 14 league fixtures to play there was no room for error. On the two previous occasions that the Firsts faced a 14-match fixture list, the withdrawal of teams during the season caused the shortage. The Second Team, in their second season back, faced a similar scenario with only eight teams in their division.
Both teams struggled throughout the campaign and disappointingly finished in seventh place, one from bottom. The Old Boys Team could not match the heroics of the previous season and managed to finish in sixth place in the Masters League.
Unsurprisingly the MGBSFL adopted supplementary Cup competitions to give teams extra fixtures, otherwise the 2022/23 season would have petered out extremely early, Collectively, the Club's three teams had no fewer than 17 Cup ties to fulfil, which included nine group fixtures between them. There were two ties in the Cyril Anekstein Cup (both forfeited by the Firsts and Seconds), two quarter-finals in their respective David Wolff divisional cups, three group games per team in the MGBSFL Super Cup/Barry Goldstein Trophy and MMFL Cup, two quarter-final ties in the Super Cup, and one semi-final tie for both the Firsts and Old Boys in their respective competitions.
One of the group fixtures in the MGBSFL Super Cup/Barry Goldstein Trophy brought Fortune's two MGBSFL teams together. Played at Silver Jubilee Park in late February, it was the Club's first competitive meeting between the Firsts and Seconds for 43 years. Kerry and I participated as assistant referees – there was no way I wanted to miss the game! Despite Simon Linden's team winning 8–1, the Second Team excelled by winning the group and qualifying for the last eight which certainly was not on the cards after the opening game.
There were not many highlights during the season in terms of positive results but the Second Team's superb 1–0 defeat of Real Madreidel of Division 1 ranks highly in the list of shocks, and deservedly has been included in the Club's 'Epic Games' series on the website. This is the first time ever that the Second Team have beaten a team from a higher division in a competitive fixture. Sadly the game was marred by a mass confrontation at the end of the game which was the fault of a Madreidel thug, leading to an E20 fine against the Club for failing to control our players, but it cannot take away the Second Team's excellent performance.
With the possibility of some tangible reward for an otherwise disappointing season, both the First Team and the Old Boys Team had the opportunity to reach their respective Cup finals. In a very tight game played at Brunel University the Firsts lost to a controversial goal 15 minutes from the end against Real Salt Beef, whilst the Old Boys lost 4–1 against Hendon Harriers, a team they had beaten 5–2 in the MMFL a few weeks previously. Simon Black's team managed a 7–0 win against Marshside which was the Club's best score of the season.
Again we encountered several forfeited games which always are disappointing, but given the opposition in these games and previous score-lines I can understand why we took this stance. When a team is struggling for players and morale is flimsy the last thing you want is an absolute hammering which could spell doom for a particular team. So looking back, even though I hate the number of forfeitures we have had in recent years, at the time the correct decisions were made in the best interests of the Club. Although we agreed a compensation scheme in principle at last year's AGM (where we charge players for loss of income), we did not impose this due to doing well on the financial side.
A word or two of thanks to go to Simon Linden who has decided to step down as First Team manager. I have been long aware that Simon needs to juggle work, family life and football commitments – attending Spurs games as well as managing the Firsts – have been extremely demanding and something had had to give. Apart from one short break last season, he served as manager since 2016 and turned the Firsts around, finishing runners-up in four competitions during his stint in charge. Simon has decided to be more proactive on the management side in coordinating our three teams as Director of Football. In this respect, he will oversee the teams on the playing side. Also stepping down is Jacob Kalms as Second Team manager, a role he undertook for two seasons. Managing the Second Team was never easy and Jacob was blighted by mass unavailability at times but somehow managed to fulfill the majority of fixtures over two campaigns. So thank you to Jacob, too, for his involvement as a team manager for the Club.
Overall on the administration front the season progressed smoothly. In this respect I would like to single out both Jonathan Abrams and Kerry Higham who both did sterling jobs in their respective roles. I always appreciate the work of any team manager so a big thank you also to Simon Black of the Old Boys Team as well as the two managers mentioned above.
As will be covered in other Officers' reports, financially the Club did very well to cover a record expenditure during the 2022/23 season. This feat was one major highlight of an otherwise disappointing season.
NIGEL KYTE, 1st June 2023