This piece was sent into the club by Brian Porter, who was on the committee of Boxford Youth FC which was a predecessor of Boxford Rovers Youth FC.

"In 1974 Gordon Atkinson started football training for Boxford boys aged around eight years old. This took place on the Boxford Playing Field on Saturday mornings and as the standard improved occasional friendly matches were arranged against other similar aged teams in the area.

By 1977 a number of the boys wanted to play in a league with competitive matches on a regular basis so a committee of some of the boys fathers was formed for the 1977-78 season with Gordon as the team manager. The club was named Boxford Youth Football Club and the committee consisted of Brian Porter, Brian Havis, John Kent, John McDermott, Peter Haining and Gordon Atkinson. The team would play in the U-12 section of the Suffolk and Essex Sunday Youth Football Combination. The committee set a signing on fee of 50p per player and a match fee of 15p per player for each match played.

Matches were played against other local villages and towns. The latter, having access to a much great number of players, were generally able to field considerably stronger teams than Boxford but our boys never gave up and continued to play with great enthusiasm and achieved some unexpected victories. The support for the team from the parents was magnificent and there was never a shortage of transport to away matches even in the worst of winter. Also, there were always plenty of volunteers to help with fund raising which was a great help to the committee.

The highlight of those early years was undoubtedly a visit to New York and Boxford, Massachusetts for two weeks in April, 1979. The whole squad of fifteen boys, accompanied by four fathers, were able to make the trip and were looked after by families in Massapequa, Long Island and Boxford, Massachusetts. The following year, the Massapequa boys came to Boxford for a return visit.

Boxford also started to run two Colts teams but in 1980 the manager of the second Colts team decided to break away from the existing organisation and that team become Boxford Rovers FC. The original Boxford Youth team continued to play up to U-16 level."

Boxford Rovers Youth FC

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