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Season 2010-11, The Story so Far

As the winter bites into the football season and matches get postponed all over the country, we look back at the season so far for the Ayr United Football Academy.

Early on in the season, it looked like being a successful one as the Under 13 girls got themselves off to a flyer by winning the Scottish Cup League Plate in a high scoring tussle with Kilbirnie in the final, played at the Toryglen complex in Glasgow.

August also saw the closure of Whitletts Primary school but not before the AUFA and the Co-Operative Insurance cup  teamed up to give the pupils a free coaching masterclass, given by AUFA Youth coach Craig Richmond before the Cup sponsors allowed all the kids to have their photos taken with the Co-Op Insurance Cup.

Panda Pals 1000 was also born this month, gathering funds from kind donations for two purposes. The donations involved are chase season tickets for under 12s to visit, watch and support Ayr United Football Club with all funds raised from this venture ring fenced exclusively for player purchases within the first team.

The Reserve team this season has also had its success, filled with the 19s squad, it's a major boost to the players confidence that the club has the willingness to call upon them and utilise the growing abilities of the players in this age group. In a bizarre fixture set up, last seasons Reserve League Cup Semi Final was played in August against a Dunfermline side made up of almost all first team senior players. It wasn't to be on the night at East End Park, as the Ayr team lost out but the performance was excellent, only just losing out on a place in the final but the experience was a great one for the players. The 19s were to get their revenge a few weeks later though as they defeated the Fife side on league duty.

As the season progressed, we saw some cracking matches with exceptional performances coming from all the sides at times. While the 15's and 17's remain unbeaten in league football so far this season, the girls 13 side have already brought home some more silverware for the trophy cabinet in the form of the Scottish South West B League Winners Trophy after a final day victory over Kilbirnie.

Some great performances have appeared this season so far with headlines of 'Pure Br17iance' from the 17s to the 15's in 'Seventh Heaven'. '16's Fraser Four Show Floors Clyde' and 'Five Alive For 19s' are another couple that spring to mind and not to forget the '14s Royal Flush'. All matches to savour throughout the season.

There have also been invitational visits to Rangers' Murray Park and Celtic's Lennoxtown training complexes for some of the teams. A worthwhile experience for all involved and visiting and playing at such great venues as this, only enhances the Academy as a whole and give the players involved a great experience when pitting themselves against the best in the country.

October saw the Aberdeen Branch of the Ayr United Supporters Club come up trumps again with their outstanding fundraising efforts on behalf of the Ayr United Football Academy and Alzheimer Scotland. The Granite City based fans handed over a cheque for £8,200 from their fundraising Football Quiz, held a few months ago at the Inn at the Park in Aberdeen. The money was divided equally between the two charities and means that the fans have now raised more than £50,000 on behalf of both organisations since they ran their first quiz night back in 2005. Round of applause please!


This season has also seen an influx of Academy players making their mark on the Ayr United first team squad. Jonathan Tiffoney has been a regular in the squad this season and has put in many excellent displays with many saying that he has been the best and most consistent performer so far this season. If you add in Ross Robertson, Ally Woodburn, Aaron Connolly, Sean Kelly, Dale Moore and Roddy Paterson, the Academy has had a huge impact on the first team squad this season and with a total of seven Academy players having signed professional contracts this season, the future looks bright for not only the AUFA but also for Ayr United Football Club.

Players in the Academy have sometimes had their injury worries. Dale Moore receiving a bad injury in the 19s Youth Cup match against Dumbarton. Andrew Muir broke his collarbone for the 17s and Chris McFadzean also received a bad knee injury also playing for the 17s. Roy Barr for the 14s was also out for about 4 weeks after a knock received while playing but due to the excellent facilities and backroom staff made available to the Academy, these injuries are treated in the proper manner with the players receiving constant medical treatment and physiotherapy ensuring they come back fitter that before they got injured.

Term time is always a time that parents are looking for things to keep their kids occupied and the AUFA once again ran a successful programme of coaching and training during the school holidays as well. The coaching however doesn't end there for the resident Football Development Officers at the Academy and Ayr United. 3 month long blocks of training and coaching are almost at an end but will begin in the new year with hundreds of kids regularly receiving the best coaching available in the area from SFA certificated coaches to help develop the young players skills and awareness of football, oh, and they keep fit as well.

The community programme is a large part of the Academy with varied programmes carrying on all over the county. The Academy’s first and biggest Programme was the South Ayrshire Football Development Programme which it continues to deliver in partnership with South Ayrshire Council, the Scottish FA and Ayr United Football Club which includes Soccer centres, out of school soccer classes, local boys clubs development programmes, girls youth development programmes, the Academy continues to encourage participation in the Scottish FA’s Coach Education Football Courses for any potential coaches.

Other programmes also include the Everybody Active Programme which is funded by the Robertson Trust, South Ayrshire Council, Ayrshire Sportability and the Clydesdale Bank. It is a three year programme, which comprises of 3 weekly classes operating at SouthCraig and Queen Margaret Schools in South Ayrshire and involves an average of 40 weekly participants. Other notable programmes include The Tesco Bank Programme where the Academy will use the power of football to get Primary 2 and Primary 3 children (6-8 years old) active, not only at school but by establishing long-lasting activity week in, week out and also The McDonald’s School Football Programme where AUFA have to date ensured that 10 Primary Schools received 20 hours of coaching and 20 hours of games each, with 332 Primary 6 and 7 age children benefiting from the project.

November saw the Academy nominated for an NHS Scottish Health Award at their ceremony in Edinburgh but unfortuately finished runner up, a runners-up prize of £400 was awarded to it for its coaching contributions in the Community Care section.

Other non football field related items that occured over the past few weeks that keep the admin staff busy included a visit from the South Ayrshire Football Reminiscing Group who had a great couple of hours getting a tour round Somerset Park finishing off with tea and cakes in the Ayr United boardroom. AUFA have also extended their partnership with FirstPointUSA, which offers Academy players an opportunity to pursue college scholarships in the United States. Also on the matter of college, young Demi McCulloch along with 14 others continue on their coaching path, studying a Sport & Recreation (Soccer) course in conjunction with AUFA and Reid Kerr College.

Its been a busy half season so far for all the 80+ staff at the Academy and we look forward to the second half of the season with renewed invigour, hoping to bring as much success then as they have done so far in the first half of the season.