England football squad may be the team of the moment for the UK, but Castle Football Club from Ludgershall deserve all the congratulations for now, after emerging 3rd Division Champions 2006 in the Andover Sunday League. 

Formed in late 2005, the teams win is described as a "fairy tale ending" by team supporter, John McConnell BEM, and with a remarkable 21 wins out of 24 games, the team will go with supreme confidence in to next seasons 2nd Division.

Click here to listen to Castledown Radio’s Shirley Swain when she joined the management and the team at the Old Castle Club for their end of season presentations and celebrations.

Scroll down to read how the club was formed in a special report by  John McConnell:

Sponsor Peter Snellgrove from Galaxy Flooring presents an award to Danny Gladwyn

The Castle Football Club was formed in the 2005/2006 season.  It began when Danny Gladwyn, Simon Murray and James McWilliam approached John Wright on how to go about forming a Sunday League Football Team.

Danny, Simon and James played for John Wright as juniors when John ran a football team out of the Clarendon Club in Tidworth.  John Wright told them they would need a base to work from and after trying different options; they were offered support from the Old Castle Club Chairman John Angel, who gave them his 100% backing for this adventure to proceed. 

John Wright was then approached about becoming their manager and he very kindly agreed to their request. They then found a home ground to play their football matches at the Castledown Comprehensive School.

The next stage was to find sponsors for the team and were very kindly sponsored by Galaxy Flooring.  They also received a donation of football nets and corner flags from Pete Brown, and Kennet District Council provided the goal posts.  A football committee was formed and the club was financially supported by the Old Castle Club who applied for membership to the Andover Sunday League.

The rest is all a fairy take and the Castle Football Club ended the season as the Andover Sunday League 3rd Division Champions.  They played 24 games, winning 21, drew 2 and lost 1 in their final game against Vernham Dean. In all, the team scored 134 goals and conceded only 39.

On Easter Monday, the Castle Football Club held a family fun run day to raise funds for the football team and John McConnell BEM organised a five-mile run with his dog ‘Max’; accompanied by Danny Gladwyn and his brother Dean.  A large crowd had lots of fun during the event, which saw £783 raised for the team.

On the 27th May, the club held their end of season presentation evening in the Old Castle Club in Ludgershall.  The event was packed out and Pete Snellgrove from Galaxy Flooring, who is sponsor for the club, presented the individual winners trophies to the football squad members and Andrew Balsille, better known as ‘Frenchie’ received the Andover Sunday League Division 3 championship trophy on behalf of the players.

The following awards were presented by the football club chairman, Dave Kyte:

Supporters player of the year – Danny Gladwyn
Players player – Ricky Hedges
Referees award – Matthew Murray
Clubman of the year – Dave Gladwin
Managers player of the year – Michael Owen
Chairmans award – Dot Cunningham

At the end of the evening, John McConnell BEM donated and presented a replica of the Andover League 3rd Division Championship to the Old Castle Club Chairman, John Angel, which will be kept in the club trophy cabinet.

The Castle Football Team would like to thank all their sponsors and spectators for their kind support and look forward to the challenge of playing in the 2nd Division next year.