It has been 6 months since the innovative partnership between Aberdeen FC Community Trust, Garioch Sports Centre and Inverurie Locos started.

To hear about how things have developed we caught up with Stephen Boddie, AFCCT community coach based at Garioch Sports Centre to find out how the partnership has been going so far.  

“It’s been a fantastic experience, being local, it’s been a real privilege to try and develop and work with people in Inverurie and the surrounding areas. The people I’ve been working with have been really supportive, helping to put new initiatives into the town and trying to make the community the best it can be.  Through the partnership Garioch Sports Centre’s profile has benefitted greatly, it has shown how much they have going on in the community and that it is not just for elite athletes, it is for everyone… a community environment.  The partnership has also allowed us to interact with those who might not have had these kind of opportunities before, people living with dementia, over 65s, mental health issues and younger people from dis-engaged backgrounds”

When the partnership began Stephen was tasked with increasing the quantity and quality of football in Inverurie, he explained how he has managed to achieve this so far and touched on plans for the future in this area.

“We have done a lot of workshops with the Inverurie Club coaches to help develop them, 1v1 in-services, goalkeeping in-services, Positive Coaching Scotland and Cultural Awareness Workshops. I feel that if you develop the coaches, giving them more knowledge, you are going to get a higher quality of player. Coaching the coaches through one to one mentoring is also a key aspect of my role and a vast amount of my time is spent out on the training pitches with coaches from all the Inverurie clubs. A lot of this has been done with the Juvenile Club Colony Park and hopefully in time these benefits will show as better player’s filter through into the adult game.  The quantity of football in Inverurie is growing rapidly, we have Walking Football, Summer Adult Football and Ladies only football and there are people coming along who haven’t played football in years! Long term this will hopefully lead on to further Inverurie Club teams, an Over 35’s League and the creation of a Colony Park ladies’ team. I’ve also been linking closer together with Active Schools, which will hopefully lead to the development of primary school’s football in the area and again this will get children playing football who might not have had the opportunity before.”

Before taking on this new role earlier this year Stephen was already employed by AFCCT in a part-time capacity. One of the benefits of making the transition to full-time is that Stephen now has more time on his hands to help those around him throughout his local community.

“Through my experience at university and then working with the Trust for 6 years, it’s all been about helping people, supporting them and providing opportunities. A lot of what I do is meeting people, getting out in the community and letting them know what opportunities there are around them, as well as getting ideas from them. Another highlight of this partnership is working with teams and coaches in Inverurie and eventually getting them working together to create a better player pathway. This means that a six year old boy or girl could move right through the Inverurie Player Pathway and into Adult Football whether this be Highland League, Juniors, Amateurs or Ladies level football.”

Stephen is quite often the face of the partnership in Inverurie, but he was keen to stress the importance of the relationships he maintains on a daily basis with the partners.

“I work closely with Kevin Bonarius, the co-general manager at Garioch Sports Centre going over current and new initiatives taking place at the centre and how we can expand these further. On a day to day basis I regularly work with other members of the GSC staff who are fantastic to work with. Through the Locos I work regularly with the first team co-managers Scott Buchan and Kenny Coull, as well as the Chairman and Vice chairman Eddie Innes and Mike Macaulay plus a number of devoted committee members. I have also built a number of relationships within Colony Park’s Junior, Amateur and Juvenile teams, who I regularly interact with out on the training pitches or within club meetings”

As the first partnership of its kind there may have been a bit of uncertainty about how things would go but from Stephen’s experience over the past few months he feels that this type of project could be replicated elsewhere, particularly with other Highland League clubs looking to do more in their local communities.

“The biggest impact for the Locos is all Inverurie clubs working closer together to improve the quality of players coming through, right the way from Grassroots football, so hopefully in 5-10 years’ time there will be players from the Inverurie area that can potentially step up into the SFL with the Inverurie Locos, with a higher standard of football than there is at the moment. Being the face of AFCCT out here I am able to get the message across about what AFCCT, Garioch Sports Centre and the Locos are doing, not just in terms of football but the fact the Locos want to support their local community no matter what their background is. Even small gestures can make a big difference to people, an invite to a Locos game could result in a fan for life.”

“If there were any other Highland League teams looking at this partnership and wanting to get involved I would actively encourage it; I don’t think you can ever have too much support. As many Highland League teams as possible should try and take the opportunity, engaging with the community becomes a lot easier for a football club to do as well as developing the football element of a club with expert advice from SFA trained staff. A lot of the partnership includes guidance and advising the club on what they want to do, rather than being told what to do, it falls in line with the club philosophy and what the club stands for and we mould and shape it to suit the clubs best interests. This can also open doors to further external funding grants becoming more accessible.”

When asked about his plans for the next 6 months of the partnership Stephen explained his plans to bring more initiatives into Inverurie.

“Football Fans in Training, which has been running for 5 years at Pittodrie through AFCCT, is branching out to supporters in Inverurie and the surrounding area and is being piloted for 35-65 year-old men. The programme taking place at Harlaw Park is for those who are overweight or with a higher BMI and the sessions delivered by AFCCT staff involve 45 minutes of exercise plus a 45-minute classroom discussion, sharing with each other what works best for them. A key aspect of the programme is socialising, promoting a healthy lifestyle change and going through the process together with like-minded people. The Locos will be the first Highland League club to launch the initiative and we are confident this will be a success, potentially becoming a model for other Highland League clubs to follow.

“The Red Start programme is another initiative for children where funding is provided to deliver coaching for P1-P7 children in schools, we are hoping to target one Inverurie school per term and potentially branch out to smaller surrounding schools. We are also looking to build more awareness with ethnic minorities, there has already been projects with the Syrian Scots, getting them more involved with football, we are actively trying to engage with more people and encourage them to socialise and involve themselves in football within the Inverurie area. We are also looking to replicate the wider community engagement activities with the Locos, similar to what is already taking place in Aberdeen with AFCCT. The partnership will hopefully bring further Dementia Friendly and over 65 activities to the area.”

“People don’t realise that Aberdeen FC is more than just football, so seeing me out and about in my Aberdeen tracksuit is a slight shock for some but it is all positive and it’s great being able to tell them about the Trust and the partnership and that they can get involved. The partnership between the GSC, Locos and AFC Community Trust is here to support the wider community in Inverurie as well as developing football in the area and we want to target as many people as possible.