Dysons Rovers Football Club

Dysons Rovers F.C was formed in 1998. It all started with a group of lads who grew up together on Dysons Road. After several years of playing together at the bottom of Dysons road, using a blue gate as a goal which was the entrance to MK electric Company the lads decided to make a team called Sweet F.A. Sweet F.A were entered into a 7-a-side league at Northumberland Park. The team lived up to their name and won Sweet F.A but had a great team spirit. Another team was formed into the 7-a-side league with other local lads who also played at the bottom of Dysons Road. The two teams became great rivals and played every night through the summer at the bottom of Dysons Road and over the local school field. As the lads grew up the football still went on for years with the same rivalry throughout the years.

The lads often spoke about forming a football team to see how we would do but never really got up and done anything about it due to lack of money and hassle it would be at such a young age. The local group carried on playing football together and sometimes managed to have a competitive match against people who came over from time to time. Eventually after years of talking about it Scott Griffin who is currently the club secretary and manger, spoke to all the lads individually to see if he could get a big enough response to actually form a team. The response came out very positive and with players pulling in some friends, who were interested, we got 14 players signed up and it was decided. Then there was the problem of finding a league and knowing how to gain entrance. This is where Simon Foord came in. Fortunate for the lads, Simon Foord’s dad Alan was the League Treasurer and Fixtures secretary. Alan helped us get started and gained access for us in the Haringey & Tottenham District league.After weeks of thinking of a name for the team Dysons Rovers was decided and sent to the FA.

It didn’t all go smoothly for Dysons Rovers but the players were terrific and put a lot into the club to make it possible for Dysons to succeed. Unfortunate for Dysons, there was not much success to celebrate. Several games went past with Dysons not getting results. Philippe Sylvain left the club after playing the first game of the season and losing 12-1 due to lack of money to sign for the club aswell as Chris Ward breaking his leg in the first game. Positive point of the first match saw Danny Platt score Dysons very first goal from a free kick.

With Chris Ward injured and Philippe leaving the club it left Dysons with only 12 players fit. Dysons needed more players. Dysons always managed to field 11 players but didn’t get results at first. Things started to look better when our 3^rd game of the season saw Dysons Rovers actually take a 1-0 lead in a game through Terrence Munro scoring the quickest goal so far in Dysons History and in the league on 43 Seconds. Dysons actually went on to be winning 2-1 at half time with Scott Griffin scoring the 2^nd. Unfortunately Dysons lost the game still 9-2 after 90 minutes.

Dysons did sign new players eventually with Lee Rowe coming into the squad. Unfortunately again Lee left the club after only playing 2 games. Jamie Day then came along and signed for the club. This was a good signing and his dedication to the team blended in well with the rest of the team and he became a regular player. Dysons signed two more players, Ramiz Kamil and Anthony Barrowcliffe. Anthony did not get to play for Dysons as the game he came to, Dysons won their first game 6-3 and Anthony Barrowcliffe left straight after. Ramiz stayed till the end of the season and was a solid player. Ramiz & Kevin Power left at the end of the season.

Dysons finished bottom of the league but won Sportsmanship award from the league to have Dysons Rovers first piece of silverware. The team didn’t receive any fines or bookings in the first year so the Sportsman’s award from the league was all credit to the players.

It didn’t get any easier for Dysons as the Tottenham league folded and Dysons then had to apply to other leagues. The Team had to restructure in order to succeed. A Club Committee was formed and positions allocated in order to run the team in a more professional way. Secretary Scott Griffin, Treasurer Michael Griffin & Chairman Terrence Munro went to meetings to get us accepted into the Waltham Mercury League. They were successful and Dysons now were up and going again. The Committee was selected as Danny Platt & New Signing John Erratt who had played a couple of games at the end of the season for us. The Other Committee members are the Secretary, Treasurer & Chairman. Unfortunately Danny Platt had to step back from some of his duties due to a hectic private life. Jamie Day stepped in as a new Committee member.

Dysons Rovers signed new players John Erratt, Dave Walsom, Gavin Darling, David Barker, Peter Hewer, Alan Bazell & Stuart Hasting to take our squad up to 20 players. Dysons made big improvements and the squad got stronger and bigger and welcomed Chris Ward back for the new season after being out so long from a broken leg. Season 1999/2000 was really successful and although they lost their first league game 3-2 Dysons learned from it and bounced back with their biggest win of 7-1 and went on to win 7 games on the spin. Dysons Rovers continued to build on there performances and had a wonderful season finishing 2^nd in the league & gaining promotion.

Season 2000/2001 was a hectic season. The weather made the season hard to complete and gain fluency in performances. Loads of new players became interested in playing for Dysons with a peak of up to 30 players turning up for training. Reorganisation took place of players in the club and it was whittled back down to 18 players. New Signings that stayed included Kevin May, Alan Stewart, Alan Taylor and Lee Titchmarsh, While Riordan Morrissey, Peter Berry, Gary Windust, and a few others left the club. Dysons started the league very promising and won the first 2 games 6-0 and 8-3. Unfortunately Dysons did lose their way slightly through the season and couldn’t gain consistency and only managed 6^th in the league. Dysons sponsor at this time, ‘Dysons Grill’ had shown no interest over the season to continue sponsoring us. The Edmonton Royal British Legion stepped in to see what they could do with win bonuses included.

Because of the success of the Valkenburgh (Holland) Tour in 2000, Dysons went on tour again to Ostend in Belgium in 2001, which went even better. The Tour saw Veterans Michael Griffin and Robert Balmer play for Dysons Rovers both years with both players almost scoring.

Season 2001/2002 was a very difficult season for Dysons. Starting strongly looking like a quality outfit ready to win the league. Tactical decisions and too many players saw Dysons fall flat on their face. Dysons got a little too big and could not please all the players. Eventually the size of the squad backfired on themselves and rivalry took place amongst the players and caused performances to drop. Believe it or not, Dysons did actually hold top of the league at the turn of the 2002 year but rapidly lost form soon after. Unfortunately players lost heart at Dysons and it saw the departure of Chris Osman who had joined at the beginning of the season. Also Alan Stewart sadly left the club due to the bad atmosphere in the club and Alan needed time away to relax and gather his thoughts.

In season 2001/2002, new signing Richard Matthews set himself a high standard of scoring in 8 consecutive matches. Alastair Fletcher also joined at the start of the season and settled in well.

The 2001/2002 season saw a lot of problems. Danny Platt suffered a bad injury at the start of the season which forced him to leave Dysons, but found himself back again at the end of the season for the last few games. Anthony Robinson had a reoccurring injury, which kept him out of vital games. The departure of Chris Osman, Alan Stewart, Dave Walsom, Andrew Hastings and Chris Ward for various reasons added to the Dysons problems. Towards the end of the 2001/2002 season it picked back up immensely and welcomed the signing of Daniel Lyons to complete the squad ready for the following season. Dysons ended up 8^th position in the league, which was very disappointing for them and Dysons worst position in the Mercury Waltham League yet.

The Football tour didn’t go ahead that year, due to the problems and also not enough players wanting to go. On a brighter note, The Royal British Legion offered to sponsor us on the result of each game. Also the Christmas party for Dysons was a big success that year.

Season 2002/2003 was a good season at Dysons. After the previous poor season Dysons really transformed. The team saw Gary Samuels sign at the start of the season but disappointingly Kevin May, Alan Taylor and Glenn Keen all left the club. The team was structured to a small squad but team spirit rose and rose with the closeness of the players.

The season started brilliantly with 7 straight league wins. We did lose our way but still finished 3^rd and gained promotion. The cup games were the usual disappointment. Dysons had been on team -building events, like Paintball & Bowling to raise team spirit, which worked. The Christmas party was a huge success and made a lot of money for the club with the excellent efforts from the players to sell Raffle Draw tickets. As a result Dysons managed to plunge the money back into the club for the whole team to go on tour to Rimini in Italy. The Tour was absolutely blinding. Every player enjoyed it getting closer as a team and really making Dysons feel special. The tour was capped off with transport provided by Limousines and a new Italian kit. Also Scott Griffin was lucky to be scouted on tour but turned down an offer to play Professional Football out in Italy.

This season was a bit shakey. Danny Platt pulled out of the squad due to a bad injury but the squad was increased with new signing Barry Leversuch and the resigning of Gavin Darling. The season was inconsistent throughout. We were winning, losing & drawing at random with no consistency in our performances. Dysons team spirit stayed high for a while but hit a bad spell midseason.

Gary Samuels left the club due to the bad atmosphere but new players Chas Roberts, Wayne Tydeman & Jamie Mignott were introduced to try to lift performances. After a stern team talk and a meeting the club picked back up in the right direction and finished 5^th in the league. The lads got together and Secretary Scott Griffin pledged to stay with the club the following season.

Dysons went on Tour to Spain this year and the club veterans Michael Griffin, Robert Balmer and Michael Robinson all enjoyed a spell on pitch in both games and played really well. The tour was a huge success and team spirit and morale rocketed up high. All the players enjoyed a whole new strip to play out in Spain and played very well in both games. To keep team spirit high Dysons players have all made the effort to have a social evening once a month. I look forward to next season and hope we can push the club in the right direction and look for the clubs first piece of silverware. Overall this season has had it’s up and downs but has finished on a high for the club.