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AGES 16+
football
pathway
A partnership with AFC VARNDEANIANS.
Providing a pathway to adult football.
overview
We are pleased to be the official youth system for AFC Varndeanians so our young Seagulls have a pathway into football as they become young adults. The below information provides a full breakdown about the partnership from the committee at AFC Varndeanians.
Who are AFC Varndeanians?
The V’s, as we are known, have provided football in Brighton for nearly 100 years forming in 1926 as an old boys’ team from Varndean School.
We currently have Youth teams from U16 through to an U18 County league side, 3 Senior Sides, two Vets teams, a Walking Football team, and a Social Ladies team.
The AFC V’s first team play in the Southern Combination Premier League which is Step 5 on the football ladder, competing against sides such as Haywards Heath, Horsham YMCA and Eastbourne Town and playing in the FA Cup!
Both our U18 and our First team Southern Combination sides play their home games at the Withdean stadium, which (as many of you will know) is the former home of Brighton and Hove Albion prior to the Amex!
Above all else the V’s is a family, with many players staying with the club from youth through to senior football and still actively involved in the club. We are an inclusive welcoming club providing football to players of different abilities and ages and are delighted to welcome Seagulls into the extended family!
Partnering with Seagulls f.c
Although previously we’ve had a flourishing youth structure, our youngest age group will be U16 in the 23/24 season and beyond this we have no pipeline of younger teams and talent into the senior structure.
An important part of our football strategy is to develop and provide opportunities for youngsters to access good standard football in the heart of Brighton, last season we had numerous U18s playing for our men’s first team including two 16 year olds.
To ensure we continue to have a pipeline of talent into the V’s we were keen to partner with a local Grassroots youth club and through many mutual connections identified Seagulls as a club which shared our ethos and had a footballing structure which aligned and was complementary to our own.
Through the partnership we are committed to working with Seagulls to help develop Seagulls youth teams with the ultimate objective of bringing them into the V’s football structure at U16 and supporting their progression into the U18 and Senior Team County League structure.
We believe there are many other benefits that will come from this partnership and look forward to working closely to ensure we jointly benefit through aspects such as shared coaching.