Category: Community

Committee Member Board Involvement

We’ve been meaning to share this news for a little while, but the eve of a Scottish Cup Second Preliminary Round match seems as good a time as any to do so.

As well as working hard to ensure Camelon Juniors FC keeps going through these challenging times, two of the Club’s committee members have been helping shape the wider picture of the game.

Firstly, Club Secretary Tony Smith has been welcomed onto the East of Scotland Football League board and has a responsibility for Sponsorship and Events. He is also on the working group for planning the safe return of fans back into grounds.

Secondly, Under 20s Secretary Allan Morrison has been welcomed onto the Scottish Lowland Football League Under 20 Sub Committee. This is a further step in the work undertaken to obtain Club Academy Scotland Lite accreditation last year and recognises the commitment of Camelon Juniors to ensuring the strength and success of our player pathway.

It is great to see our committee members gaining these seats at the higher level, recognising just where Camelon Juniors FC has come and where it can go to in the future.

#weareCJFC #itswhoweare #since1920

Club Statement – Fans at Games

Camelon Juniors FC are fully supportive of the Government efforts to combat Covid-19 and have a great appreciation of how difficult a job the Scottish Government have to balance health and the economy, and the sacrifices that people are making to fight this disease.

The club is proud to have played its part in suppressing the first wave of the virus however in simple terms we are facing a fight for our very survival if fans are not allowed into watch games.

Football at the level Camelon play, faces the biggest crisis since the second world war. Our industry sector is being denied the right to trade, due to the refusal to let fans watch games, whilst just over the border in England clubs at equivalent levels are allowed supporters into the match, properly physically distanced with fans wearing face masks.

It is hard to see how going to the football is a higher risk than the pub or the supermarket, when it’s outdoors, distanced, tracked and everyone is temperature checked.

It is our hope that the current restrictions on us are simply out of a lack of appreciation of the challenges football faces at this level. There is no Sky TV deal and no generous benefactor in the form of Mr Anderson as our friends in the SPFL received. Match day income is fundamental to being able to trade solvently. Without it, through no fault of clubs at this level, many won’t be here in three months time.

People may say there are too many clubs anyway. Our response to that is that their view would be different if it was their own club and there won’t be many clubs anywhere in Scotland that are safe, and almost none are at tier five.

Clubs are not asking for a 1,000 fans. All we’re asking for is 200 in a 14,000 square meter site, in a controlled, secure environment.

This week the club has written to local MSP Michael Matheson, who we’re pleased to say has responded to arrange a telephone meeting next week. We look forward to a discussion on what we hope is a lack of understanding of the sector, and the economic benefits it has to the local economy. While Camelon might not be a big club, we still employ twenty people and purchase many products from local suppliers who in turn employ local people. Multiply this by the number of clubs and it’s an economic generator worth, according to a recent study, over £500 million to the Scottish Economy.

The fiscal benefit aside, the community and mental health benefits that football brings to players and supporters alike should be reason enough to re-consider fans in football, providing it’s in a secure and safe venue.

We’re not asking for a moonshot on this one. Either the ability to run our business and trade, or for some assistance to replace the trade that has been denied to us.

Tony Smith
Club Secretary
Camelon Juniors Football Club

U17s graduate to U20s

Camelon Juniors would like to congratulate graduates from our Under 17s Academy team who have made the move over to our Under 20s Development Squad. Throughout the 2019/20 season, many of the U17s were featured in Friday night games and training as part of their pathway at the Club. One of the biggest games our U17s featured in was the SFA U18 Scottish Youth Cup.

Part of our U20s Development plan is to bring players in from within our Academy over the season and integrate them into the system and environment of senior football, helping to prepare them for the step up while enjoying their football within our youth program. This Development Plan is also geared towards our older players to make the move into senior football within Camelon or the wider senior game, and we celebrated as Keir Young and Kai Wilson both made the move from U20s to their pro contracts at senior level. All this is part of our commitment to Club Academy Scotland criteria, which Camelon Juniors was accredited with in November 2019, thanks to the hard work and diligence from U20s Secretary Allan Morrison.

Our Structure is a clear pathway to a higher level of football with Camelon Juniors FC and over the past 2 seasons our U20s have enabled 5 players to move into the senior game.

So, here are the players that have graduated to the u20s Development Squad. Congratulations to them all.

Frazer Wicox
Owen Gallacher
Cameron Hamilton
Luke Crosbie
Euan Arthur
Robbie Simpson
Adam MacDonald
Callum Wylie
Keigan McCaffery
Ermuir Ismaili
Kai Reed

#weareCJFC #itswhoweare #since1920

New Main Sponsor Announced

Camelon Juniors FC are delighted to announce that Express Taxis will be the clubs main sponsor for next season. Their logo will be proudly displayed on the front of the home and away shirts in our centenary season.

Club Secretary Tony Smith commented “We’re delighted to announce this new exciting partnership and are really grateful to Express Taxis for their support. This is really massive for the club in the current times that we’ve been able to partner with such a well known local business that shares our community values.”

Andrew Buchanan, Manager of Express Taxis, said “It is with great pleasure that Express Taxis can announce that we are now the main sponsors of Camelon Juniors Football Club. Covid-19 has presented an unprecedented and unforeseen challenge to our business, but when the opportunity came along to be able to sponsor a club that has done so much good work for the local community, it seemed like a perfect match for us to get involved. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our fantastic drivers that have continued to work at this time and of course all our loyal customers that have stood by us. We hope it won’t be too long until we can all enjoy getting back out to support our local teams.”

Express Taxis
Driving the community for over 60 years.
More than just a taxi company.
01324 638000

#weareCJFC #itswhoweare #since1920

You support us – now it’s our turn

Club statement

As you may know, 1920 was the year that Camelon Juniors Football Club, as we know it, was founded. As a committee, we had grand plans to celebrate it and hopefully we will still be able to do these down the line.

However, in the midst of a global pandemic we’ve found a new way to mark the occasion. Many of our players, coaches, volunteers and staff are now helping to distribute food to the most vulnerable in our community, in partnership with the Camelon Community Hub. We are also going to be helping to look after the children of front line staff over the Easter break by delivering sporting activities at the local hub school with Falkirk Community Trust.

Our community has stood with us for 100 years and now we stand with them. I can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate our club centenary than this.

Taking this one step further, the committee have decided that NHS staff will receive free entry to all our games next season. Simply show your ID badge, come in and be part of our family. It’s just a small thank you from us to you.

Stay safe – stay home.

Tony Smith
on behalf of the CJFC committee

CJFC 2005s step up to the plate

Despite being the team who’ve had the hardest of seasons having to drop a league and without a win all year, our Youth Academy 2005s team have stepped up to support local people in need. Most of the boys have never played football before this season and this is very much a community level team, which makes their gesture even more meaningful.

At the instigation of their Club Secretary Cat Milne, the boys have used some of their fund raising money that they’d been saving, to purchase food, cleaning products and toiletries (pictured) and have donated them to our charity partner, Love Falkirk. This is an outreach programme run by Falkirk Vineyard Church who work from an office in our ground to support those in most need in our community through the provision of food parcels, household items, toiletries and a spirit of community.

Our Club Sports Chaplain Dan Rous, who is supported by Falkirk Vineyard Church and Sports Chaplaincy Scotland, was on hand to receive the donation from the 2005s. He said, “this is a fantastic boost to the practical provision that our Love Falkirk volunteers are undertaking. They’re pretty busy at the best of times, but are now receiving more and more calls for support from social workers in these difficult days. I’m here to support the general needs of everyone involved at Camelon Juniors FC so it’s nice that the club as a whole are stepping up their support in return. Tony Smith asked me to set up the collection point for people to bring food donations in and we’ve had a number of people take up that invitation. The support that our Love Falkirk volunteers will be giving will only increase over the coming weeks, but together with the whole Falkirk Vineyard Church family, we will serve people as best we can for as long as we can.”

Well done to all at the 2005s for this gesture. We’re proud of you as always.

#weareCJFC #itswhoweare #supportlocal

Find out how you can support at www.lovefalkirk.com or find them all over social media as @lovefalkirk

Breaking News. Huge News. Exciting News.

All of the above and more! Read on……

In recent months, Camelon Juniors FC have been assessed against the Entry level criteria of the SFA Club Licence, as part of the club’s application to become a member of the Scottish FA. The club are delighted to say that today we passed the audit, with the Licensing Committee confirming that we meet all the necessary requirements.

Club Secretary Tony Smith commented: “On behalf of the committee, we’d like to express our sincere thanks to all the people who have worked incredibly hard over the last two years to make our vision a reality. This achievement is down to the determination of people who love their club. With sponsors, fans, committee members, local businesses and our management team all pushing in the same direction, we’ve achieved something that previously seemed impossible. I can’t begin to say how proud I am of the club and everyone who has taken part in this massive project”

This has probably been the biggest team effort in 25 years – maybe even in the Clubs history – and is a huge achievement for this community focused club. This is a huge boost as Camelon Juniors FC will now celebrate its centenary next season with the addition of a Scottish Cup place.

#weareCJFC #itswhoweare #supportlocal

Tribute – Sonny Robertson

Camelon Juniors FC are sad to report that long time fan and servant of the club, Sonny Robertson, passed away this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.

Whilst his health had been failing, he was still giving his time to sell the Treasure Chest tickets in Tesco’s until just a few weeks ago and attended games whenever he could.

He is pictured below at last seasons Player of the Year Awards presenting the young player award to Conor McKenzie.

In his memory, the club flag will fly at half mast at our game on Wednesday evening and there will be a one minute applause before the game.

Rest in peace Sonny. #weareCJFC #itswhoweare

CJFC invite Thomas Cook employees and affected customers to this Saturdays match

Everyone at CJFC was shocked and saddened to hear the news of Thomas Cook’s demise this morning. We feel especially for local people who worked for the company, and those who have had their holidays cancelled as a direct result.

There’s obviously nothing we can do for the company, but we can do something for the local people affected. So as a small token of support, the CJFC committee wish to invite those who have lost their Thomas Cook job this week and also those who have had their Thomas Cook holiday cancelled, to come and watch our first team play this Saturday for free. Staff should make themselves known at the gate and holiday makers should bring their booking.

The match, against Crossgates Primrose, kicks off at 2:30pm, but allow plenty of time to get through the gate. We look forward to welcoming you and hopefully taking your mind off things at least for 90 minutes.

#weareCJFC #itswhoweare #supportlocal

Scottish Cup Match Day Information

In addition to our usual Match Day information page, here are some extra pieces of information that will help with our 2nd Preliminary Round Scottish Cup match against Auchinleck Talbot. Please also take note of our Code of Conduct.

Entrance to the ground: We will have two turnstiles open at the usual Fairlie Drive end of the ground, plus a gate at the top of the car park beside the canal. This gate also provides full disability access.

Parking: There will be no parking available for fans at the ground. Parking is available at Carmuirs Primary School (Carmuirs Street) or Brown Street. Please note there is no parking available on Fairlie Drive.

Buses: Supporters buses will not be permitted to drop off or collect at the ground. Parking is available at Portdownie (Loch 16) or Brown Street. There will only be access and parking for the Team bus at the ground.

Local Pubs: The Canal Inn (Canal Street) or the Mariner Bar (Glasgow Road) are both football friendly pubs.

Alcohol: Please note that no alcohol will be permitted into the ground. We have a bar in our Club1920 Hospitality Suite for purchase and consumption of alcohol. Any drinks purchased there cannot be taken onto the terraces.

We look forward to a fantastic day celebrating great local football.