I hope you, your families and club members are all well !
The League were awaiting the announcement next week by the government on the route out of lockdown, before posting about the possible resumption of League matches in March.
However, now that almost an additional 2 million people have been identified as vulnerable to the virus and added to the shielding group, fixtures scheduled for March have been postponed and moved to April.
The 5 and 7-a-side Leagues have only two match days each remaining for us to complete this season; and although usually we finish by April, our intention is to play this seasons remaining matches in the months when the risk of transmission of the virus is low. The League is willing to conclude this season as late as the summer if necessary, allowing the opportunity to all our members to participate and not miss out due to government guidelines on shielding.
We will continue to monitor the situation, keep you all informed of any changes and have a League meeting a few weeks before any scheduled re-start.
Last Saturday saw the funeral of Club Doncaster Titans founder and South Yorkshire Ability Counts giant Darren Warner.
Darren’s wife, Sharon, and sons Jordan and Cameron accompanied him to Rose Hill Crematorium, on Cantley Lane in Doncaster, where the regulation small group of mourners paid their final respects.
Covid-19 restrictions preventing the larger congregation at the Crematorium, hundreds of friends and family members paid their own fantastic tribute when the funeral cortege paused at the Keepmoat Stadium, the home of Doncaster Rovers.
For a moment, so many people whose lives had been touched by Darren took the chance to say their thank you and goodbye.
It was a fitting way for them to show how much Darren Warner meant to all of us.
We thank Sharon for her permission to use these photographs and send her and the boys our condolences and best wishes.
Darren was my true hero, I was proud of everything he achieved in life, my heart is broken but all the lovely comments have helped me though these last few weeks.
Daz, I hope you can see all these lovely comments !!’ And how much people appreciated what you gave.
I’m so proud to be your wife; thank you for being you xxxxxx
Today we publish the tribute Darren’s wifesent to us.
Visit our blog page; click the post “A gentleman of our times”; after reading the post and the club emblems you will find the opportunity to click on comments and view more tributes to Darren.
SHARON WARNER
Darren was my true hero I was proud of everything he achieved in life my heart is broken but with all the lovely comments have helped me though these last few weeks
Daz I hope you can see all these lovely comments !!’ And how you have made people appreciate what you gave.
I’m so proud to be your wife and thank you for being you xxxxxx I will always love you xxxxx
Tomorrow we publish some of the tributes that South Yorkshire Ability Counts League has received following the death of our secretary, Darren Warneron January 17th 2021.
Darren’s funeral is to be held on Saturday 30th of January 11.00am at Rose Hill Crematorium, Cantley Lane, Doncaster. DN4 6NE.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions the service indoors will be limited in numbers; due to severe lockdown restrictions the service cannot be broadcast outside. Therefore, the crematorium asks that only those with an invite to the service attend the crematorium due to public safety issues. However, the funeral cars with Darren will be passing the Keepmoat Stadium at 10.10am for those wishing to wave Darren a farewell.
Join us tomorrow, Wednesday 27th January for the tributes.
Important Message from the SYACL Chair, Mike Stylianou.
SYACL wishes everyone a Happy New Year 2021, unfortunately, due to current pandemic regulations, the South Yorkshire Ability Counts League is now suspended during this present lockdown.
Concord Sports Centre and Goals Centres will be closed – alongside all other Leisure Centres – which effectively prevents us from staging either 7-a-side or 5-a-side matches.
We have suspended the League until this lockdown is lifted; and do not give permission for teams to arrange League matches against each other, despite the government exemption for Disability Sports.
Obviously some clubs may wish to organise training sessions for their teams and possibly arrange friendly matches, but the League does not encourage it.
We understand many of you will be disappointed by our decision; as always our main priority is the safety of all our group, the current high risk to any of our clinically extremely vulnerable members and the fear of spreading the virus.
We will attempt to restart in March, review the situation throughout; and hopefully complete the season before the summer.
We hope you all stay safe and well and look forward to staging matches again in a safer environment in the not too distant future.
We are aware there may be a great deal of disappointment and anxiety amongst our participants as the League forms an important part in your social lives. We would ask you to keep in touch, via telephone/social media, with your teammates and friends during this time; one of our team managers has asked that the following helplines be publicised, so that if anyone is in need of someone to talk too they can contact the appropriate helpline or contact your team manager’s; and we will all be back playing football very soon.
Dear website readers, first and foremost thanks from all the team and contributors for your continued support and making this website, in it’s first year the success that it is.
We have lots for you to catch up on today. The City Knights biography has been added to the team biographies page; across on Bradford City Disability page we have an interview with Matthew Hemmingway, Bradford City Disability defender/midfielder; and a Christmas message from the team at SYCAL – Mike, Darren, Sean, Colin and Margaret.
It’s been a year to forget, that’s for sure; but amongst all the doom and gloom, the South Yorkshire Ability Counts League managed to get two match days of seven-a-side football and two afternoons of five-a-side football after competition restarted after the lockdown. You can read the reports on the matches on the Results page of this website.
Secretary Darren Warner and the SYACL Committee meet regularly by Zoom to ensure that the preparations for a safe restart are agreed and communicated to everyone, and Chairman Mike Stylianou visited the venues with our Covid-19 Officer Colin Muncie to agree the game day protocols. These included, regrettably, a limit on the numbers able to attend, with no spectators allowed being the disheartening feature of the rulings by the venues.
On arrival, each player has a temperature check, and is provided with hand sanitiser. Groups are kept separate when not involved in a match, and fixtures are scheduled to minimise the number of teams present at the venue at any one time. In between matches, our referees-led by our own Sean Wright sanitise the equipment ahead of the next match.
We are continuously monitoring advice from the Government, Public Health England, the Football Association and the venues where our matches are played. At all times, the safety and well being of our participants is the overriding priority, so if the advice changes, we modify our match day protocols.
We have been running an extremely popular series of feature interviews with our players and coaches, so if there is someone you think deserves a feature on our website, just let us know.
Editor Margaret says ” Since our website started, we have had nearly 7,500 views, which is an average of about 1000 visits every month. Our Twitter audience is also growing – it’s above 100 now.”
Today it’s the turn of Doncaster Titans goalkeeper Josh Collinson to share his views of playing in the SYACL.
“My favourite part in playing in the SYACL is playing against different teams in order to keep pushing myself to improve my own form, whenever I’m in goal.
I would tell them that it’s ok to be shy and it’s ok to be nervous because joining a team and playing in the SYACL can be a big step. If they feel they are ready and willing to work hard, both as a player and in a team, then come along and be in it.”
Join us over the Christmas holidays for further updates from the SYACL.
Today we have an interview with Doncaster Titan’s coach, John Hibbert.
“I would say to a person who is a little shy – if you want to play in the SYACL group, do not be scared; we were all like this at first! We are like a family, so welcome my brother or sister!“
“I started by fetching my grandson to football because his dad was suffering from leukaemia. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me; I lost five stones in the first year and it has done wonders for my self-esteem. Now I’m a Club Doncaster Titans coach and I’m loving it at the minute.“
Turn over and read the full interview on the Titan’s page.
South Yorkshire Ability Counts League 