Anniversary celebrations put on hold for Winsor United
WITH their 50th anniversary coming around the corner, Winsor United have had to postpone their celebrations to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Totton-based team was founded in 1970 and has flourished into a club which has more than 13 junior and senior active teams.
Winsor has also been hit by the coronavirus financially after the season was cut short in March. The club relies on match fees and summer events to pay for pitches they rent from the council every week.
Vice-chairman Paul Luffman told the A&T: “All income through training subs stopped in March. Our financial model is based on covering our costs for winter training venues and making a profit between April and October on summer venues, which pays for pitch maintenance at home venues over the summer ready for the football season in September.
“The longer football training activities are stopped, we are not making the money we need to maintain our pitches.”
Luffman also outlined that the club was due to re-enact their first-ever game against Lyndhurst which took place 50 years ago with three of the four club founders being invited as honorary guests. The club was also due to hold a football festival with Stanley’s Own Scout Group, but both events have been deferred to next season.
However, despite the cancellations, the club has rallied to keep the children active despite being in lockdown. Winsor has promoted several social media challenges to their members and has tried to keep spirits high with virtual meetings.
Luffman said: “We have been very active on social media and have set all club players challenges throughout the lockdown.
“One of our coaches sets a video challenge, which applies to all age groups, and we post them internally to all teams through WhatsApp but also on our social media channels.
“We have also done things like recreating famous goals, spot-the-ball competitions, and generally show off skills. On top of that, for our younger age groups, we’ve organised team Zoom meetings so that they can keep in touch with their mates.”
