The Ashington Cougars U15s decided to hold a Champions League Awards Night playing the whole Champions league on FiFa 12 in an evening with a break to watch the game and what a game that was with extra time and penalties before Chelsea lifted the cup. The U15s FiFa 12 was just as exciting with the favorite, Timmy Moore winning the final on penalties from Jack Lloyd. The Europa final was won by Alfie Capper with Joe Brooker the runner up. The evening was also interupted by a visit from the Club Chairman, Paul Ames, to congratulate the boys on their promotion to the "A" division and to present their manager and club secretary, Daniel Fuller-Smith, with an award for services to the club.

The extra time and penalties did delay the evening a little and it was not until 11:30 before the trophies were able to be handed out. This years winners were:-

Golden Boot - Joe Brooker

Clubman - Miles Branford

Players Player - Joe Brooker

Most Improved - Dom Santry

Managers Player - Joe Brooker

This has been a great season and the boys are really playing some great football. Whilst there have been a number of newer players over the last few years, I am very pleased that we still have some long standing players. This year sees the following long service achievements:-

Joe Brooker - 10 years

George West 10 years

Stuart Nicolson - 10 years

Miles Branford - 7 Years

Alex Daniels - 7 years

Kristian Dunne - 6 Years

Alfie Capper - 6 years

Dom Santry - 6 years

What a season! Our own Man City V Man Utd battle was fought out by the Kent's and the Ames' and there were other worthy winners too:

Winner - Paul Ames

Second - Jaime Kent

Third - Matt Ames

Player's winner - Matt Ames

Player's second - Harry Kent

Players third - Will Farnes

Golden Boot - Matt Ames

Starting 11 winner - Leroy Charlwood

Manager of the month

1 - Dobber

2 - Will Farnes

3 - Will Farnes

4 - Jaime Kent

5 - Harry Kent

6 - Paul Ames

7 - Louisa Hone

8 - Paul Ames

Well done everyone, see you next year for an even bigger and better league!

It was another great awards cermeny and good to see all the players so exited by it all. Well done the club for arranging a special night.

Better quality  and additional  photos can be found here

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Jim Hills Sports are a small sports shop in Billingshurst. They offer members of Ashington Cougars Football Club a discount of 10% on all sports goods plus additional discounts to equipment directly ralated to football.

 I believe that Jim used to live overlooking the Rec and has been a long time supporter of our club. What I know, though, is that they provide an excellent, friendly  service, great knowledge of the suitability of the equipment they sell and great general advice.

Ashington Cougars are pleased to announce that we recieved a nomination in The FA's National Respect and Fair Play Awards 2012. The awards seek to highlight those clubs that create a fair, safe and enjoyable environment for the game to take place. The club was nominated for its history of fair play that has seen the current U15s / U12s and U11s all winning awards in the last few years along with its approach to child welfare. The club has also developed 13 of our U15s and another 5 players from Steyning and Storrington into Junior Football Leaders (JFLs) and become the first club in Sussex to act as a centre for the FA's recently launched "Football Futures" programme. In addition 4 of our U15s have also qualified as referees in the last 6 months. Recognition at a national level is a fantastic achievement for Ashington Cougars and The FA will be declaring the winning club in the next few weeks.

Following tonights coaching session with the U10s Miles Branford joins Joe Brooker, Adam Lamport, Will Kerr and George Staples as JFO's. The JFO is a junior version of the FA's Level 1 course aimed at U16s keen to start developing their leadership skills.

In addition the club is one of the first centres for the FA's new "Football Futures" programme which has recently launched in Sussex. As well as mentoring a number of our our own players we have two Steyning Strikers and  one Storrington Viper working through the programme with us.

Currently Will Kerr is leading the pack with over 30 hours of volounteer work following a trip to Africa at the end of last year where he acted as an assistant coach in Rwanda.

The U15s finished their season with a 1-0 win over Horsham Crusaders that saw them finish the season unbeaten in the league since September 2011 in a run of 12 games, with 11 wins, 1 draw and 34 points. With some games still to be played it looks like we will miss being champions by just 1 point but have gained promotion into the "A" division for our final season. A fantastic performance and something that they all should be very proud of. Well one lads.

Following today's win the U15s have gained promotion to the "A" division for next season as it is now impossible for the team in 3rd spot to catch us. Well done to all the boys who have played for the U15s this season.

Today saw us away to East Grinstead in a clash that could well settle second spot in the league and apart from the slow start that saw us go 1-0 down the boys played some outstanding football that left East Grinstead lost for what to do. Charlie had a great game at right back, on a number of occasions playing as a wing back over lapping with Dom. Dom has the right wing role nailed and caused all sorts of problems for EG from our goal box to their goal box. Kristian was solid at left back and whilst Tim was not 100% he also had a great game at the back as did Yvan. Miles and Louis fought hard in the middle and Conor was a welcome addition to add strength at half time. Hard not to pick Joe B for man of the match after his hat trick but credit needs to go to Alfie for all his hard work in the middle that was a major contribution to the win and it was his activities that led to a number of the goals.

Today’s win leaves us top of the table with two games to go. To make sure of promotion we need one more win and then it does not matter what happens elsewhere we are guaranteed 2^nd spot. Next Saturday we are home to Dorkinians who are 5^th and the weekend after Horsham Crusaders who we have beaten twice and are 4^th so we are ideally positioned.

Ashington Cougars are pleased to announce that they have retained their status as one of only 14 FA Charter “Development” clubs in the whole of Sussex following the annual FA health check. The club also recently just missed out on winning the “Sports Club of the Year” in the Sussex Sports Awards held in November at Brighton’s Hilton Hotel. “This has been another excellent year for the Cougars” said Paul Ames, Ashington Cougars Chairman, “but the best measure of a club is the extra effort that is put in to benefit the players. The last 12 months have seen us attend England U21 and U19 games, host an interclub tournament with Worthing Dynamo’s, run our own tournament and visit the Chelsea Academy over the Christmas period”. “Meeting Daniel Sturridge and the England U21 squad at the pre-match training session was a fantastic experience”, said Joe Brooker, captain of Ashington Cougars U15s.