“THE FA don’t care about Finchampstead Football Club.”
That was the scathing response from Jon Laugharne after it was confirmed he would be leaving the club to become manager of Henley Town with the current Finch first team in Hellenic Division One East no longer in existence.
The decision comes as Finches are deemed to not have a ‘grade G’ ground suitable to compete at step six as they do not have floodlights, hard-standing or a 100-seater stand at the Memorial Ground.
This has always left the club on the brink of having their Division One East license revoked and Laugharne says the time was right now to step away with his assistant Darren Purbrick and many of the players also expected to make the switch to Henley.
“Over the last three years we’ve had this black cloud over us about not having the right ground grading and told that we weren’t going to be able to compete at step six,” Laugharne explained to The Wokingham Paper.
“It’s been like that for three years. This year was the third year and we were waiting to find out.
“After Christmas it went from, ‘this might be your last year’ to ‘this will be your last year’. Then it all depended on other applications to step six Hellenic League.
“Hellenic League have been really supportive of us. They’ve not kicked us out, we need to make that clear. It’s nothing to do with them.”
He continued: “What we’ve done is made the decision. The opportunity came up at Henley and we’ve accepted that.
“Finchampstead may have got another year but either way, you’re teetering on the brink. You just don’t know.
“The opportunity has come up, we’ve been told that effectively you can’t carry on anyway, so we’ve made the move.”
The decision comes off the back of a successful campaign on the pitch for the Finches.
Laugharne, who spent six years in charge of the club, guided his side to a fourth-placed finish in Division One East, above the likes of Wokingham and Emmbrook, Bicester Town and
Rayners Lane.
But Finchampstead, one of the founder members of the division 17 years ago and champions in the early 2000s, will no longer have a side in the Hellenic structure, with their Thames Valley League reserve side now taking the role of the club’s senior outfit.
And the now Henley boss, who will stay in One East with his new club after they were relegated from the Premier Division, says the nation’s governing body should do more to protect players at this level of the game.
He said: “My biggest problem is, why do I need a stand to hold 100 people when I get five people watching?
“How often would floodlights be turned on and is a hard-standing area the be all and end all?
“Nobody can tell me why I need to have those things.
“Finchampstead can’t do anything where we are and we have always said that.
“It’s not about money or anything, we’re not allowed to put lights up, not allowed to put a stand in and we’re not allowed to do hard-standing.
“The players are the most important thing and there’s a real disregard to players from the FA.
“The FA’s idea of grassroots football is probably Conference (step one of non-league) and that’s it.
“It goes a lot deeper than that and that’s where the disappointment lies.
“They don’t care enough about the actual footballers themselves because teams are folding all over the place because players don’t want to play.
“They’re going out of the game because of their stupid red tape that they keep putting up.
“It’s difficult enough running a team. You only have to speak to Bracknell. They have terrific facilities and it’s still difficult for them, so imagine what it’s like for Finchampstead.
“It’s been a difficult couple of years.
“It’s ridiculous really that we finished fourth and effectively get relegated. It’s stupid. How does that work?
“The Hellenic League have always gone to meetings and argued the toss for us but the FA don’t care about Finchampstead Football Club.
“They’re not bothered about what we do. They don’t care.”
The FA says improvements to facilities are an important part of the sustainability and development of clubs wishing to adhere to the standards and requirements of the FA’s Ground Grading.
