There’s a new football club in Manchester… and it’s run entirely by UCFB students!
AFC Medlock, who play in the Manchester Amateur Sunday Football League, was the brainchild of BA (Hons) Sports Business and Coaching student Jake Parr as a way to gain valuable work experience within the sports industry to accompany their degrees.
Every member of staff, from players to coaches to the media and finance teams, are UCFB Etihad Campus students.
Jake said: “AFC Medlock was set up so that students who had moved to the Manchester area had a club that they could play for right on their doorstep – especially those students who attend UCFB.
“When I set up the club I wanted as much of it as possible to be ran by the students of UCFB, which it is. All the coaches are UCFB students as well as those who run the social media and handle the finances of the club.”
A big appeal of playing for the club is that anybody can join and sign up for a reasonable fee. Even those students who don’t want to play but want to be involved with the club can be.
Speaking further of the help the club provides to UCFB students, Jake added:“AFC Medlock is perfect for myself and other UCFB students on the coaching course as it provides an easily accessible placement opportunity. It allows us all to gain experience within the industry and put into practice what we learn in lectures.”
Despite a somewhat shaky start to the season, Jake is hopeful of a quick turnaround in results: “My hopes for this season are that we can start to improve the performances and the results and start to put in place the ground work for future seasons.”
Hoping to eventually earn semi-professional status, there are big plans in place for the expansion of AFC Medlock over the coming seasons.
Jake said: “Next season I will be hoping to build on our achievements this year and hopefully be in a position to establish a second team which will play under the club’s name.”
He added: “I want to keep developing the club each year with new teams at various age groups to hopefully become a club within the local area that people of all ages, genders and backgrounds want to be a part of.”
