In the Media world, the month of August is generally known as the "silly season" when everyone is on holiday and very little is happening. That's when the offbeat news stories such as talking cows (as seen recently on BBC Television) take over from the usually more sane offerings.

Hethersett Athletic hasn't had a silly season. There has been plenty happening both on and off the field of play. So I thought it useful to cover some of this in my opening blog.

I would at this stage underline that what follows during the season is by and large my own views and thoughts. If you disagree (or agree) let me know and I will publish the comments.

I am extremely proud of the club and what it has achieved over the past few years and I think we stand on the threshold this season of something really big. With 15 teams we are now achieving our aim of providing competitive football for both sexes and all ages from eight upwards. This is no mean achievement and one everyone involved with the club should be justifiably proud of.

I often think back to the early days and 1991 when Mel Perkins ran just one youth team. Mel will forgive me for pointing out that they weren't the most successful side either. But from little acorns, mighty Oaks grow and so the last 15 years has been a journey of discovery for the club.

As the original youth team grew older, other sides filled in below and gradually a youth structure was established. And as the players got older they turned into men and so started the adult section of the club.

The next phase was to complete the triangle and introduce girls and women's football to the club and that was duly achieved, which brings us very quickly to the present.

My feeling was that last season was a marking time exercise with teams establishing themselves - although we still won a number of trophies. Call it pre-season optimism, but I genuinely believe that this will be the best season in the club's short but illustrious history. But don't take my word for that, just look at the evidence.

The men's side travelled to Manchester and returned with the prestigious Umbro.Com Cup. This was some achievement as they were unbeaten throughout the two day tournament and conceded just one goal. In the final they beat a team of semi-professional Saturday players from the Manchester area - and they beat them comfortably 3-0.

The women's side went to Essex for a major 11-a-side tournament and came back runners-up after only losing 1-0 to Crystal Palace A in the final, having beaten another Crystal Palace side and Brighton and Hove Albion in the group section.

Then our club hosted the first ever Easton Challenge Cup at Easton College where we again finished second but were desperately unlucky not to win after losing in the final to Arsenal Ladies on penalties. Hethersett comfortably won the group stages with 1-0 wins over Barchester United, Arsenal and Ipswich Town. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event, superbly organised by our vice-chair Sue Milne and committee member Tom "Toastie" Parke. I still can't find out where Tom's nickname comes from. If anybody can enlighten me I would be obliged.

Both the men's and women's successes were featured in depth in the Evening News and Pink Un newspapers. The club also received praise from the Chair of Norfolk FA Stuart Dracup for its community efforts and we will be working hard in the coming season to improve our standing in both the local and wider community.

Meanwhile men's first team manager Ross Potter has strengthened his squad for the season and the younger players will all be a year more experienced. It was significant that the two main player of the year trophies at the presentation evening went to two of the younger players - Sam Wenham and John Curtis. Now adding quality midfield players like Dean Fitzgerald will mean that the team has a serious chance of taking that Premier Division title and underlining once again the fact that we are one of the best Sunday sides in Norfolk.

To win that title, the team must come out of the blocks running. Last year they finished a creditable third and were in with a chance of the title until the last couple of games. They failed (if third place can be construed as failure) because of some unexplainable defeats throughout the season in matches that they should have won (losing heavily to bottom club St George springs to mind). If they can cut out these aberrations they must be one of the favourites to take the title.

And I know the lads would dearly love to return to Carrow Road in the Norfolk Sunday Senior Cup. We didn't do ourselves justice last time when we went down 5-0. The team have a tough first round tie at Gorleston at the start of the season. That could be one of their most difficult hurdles.

The reserves will be looking forward to the season after gaining promotion to Division 2B last season. They too look to have a strong squad and should be able to consolidate their position in that division. And I wouldn't write off the A team's chances of gaining promotion from Division 4B.

As many of you know the men's first team will be joining the women's side in playing at Easton College this season. This is the first stage of the partnership between the club and Easton College which will be beneficial for both parties.

It was felt that if the first team are to continue to make strides in local soccer we needed the playing surface and facilities to do so. The partnership will give us these as the college is in the process of building a new £400,000 changing block.

The youth set up will be as strong as ever and I would like to see this side of the club developed as a real feeder into the adult teams. It is vitally important for everyone involved with the club to realise that we are "one club" and not three disparate and different sections.

And that brings me to a plea for more help. As the club continues to grow and expand we desperately need people willing to help behind the scenes. If you are reading this please don't be bashful. Anyone with specialist skills and a few hours a month will be very welcome.

Another new innovation this season will be a regular monthly printed newsletter - Hethersett Angles. This will be distributed to all the teams and will feature news, comment, facts and figures and come out at the beginning of each month. Full colour versions will be available on the web site. Myself and Mel spent some time today running this publication out and it will be distributed over the weekend.

The web site is designed to complement everything that is going on at the club and we have some exciting ideas for this.

Finally I would like to thank all our sponsors. We are fortunate to enjoy the support of a number of local organisations. A sponsorship section has been set up on the website and we will be featuring sponsors in coming editions of our newsletter. Please support them as they continue to support us.

Go to the September Blog