It’s 2025 – letter from the Editor

Happy New Year to all of you!

In relation to local football, 2025 saw ups and downs throughout the game. From the title to relegation, qualifying from the final round to reaching the play-offs on the final day.

I have three favorite moments from the past year that I’ll tell you about in a moment. 1) Be present as Woodley United beat Oxhey Jets on the final night of the season 5-0 to secure the ‘big escape’, the first time the club has been outside the relegation zone all season, and very much deserved by the will and perseverance of everyone at the club.

2) The Berkshire Football Awards but especially watching the standing ovation received by Devonn Reid as he took home Manager of the Season, and Margaret Wrigley’s victory speech as she received the Darrell Freeland Award for her service to the game.

3) Finally the much talked about tournament at Reading City – it was a wonderful day and would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of the Cityzens, the FiB team and our amazing sponsors PLAION.

We have big plans for 2026 including a full redesign of the website with reduced advertising, more ways for clubs to post their own content and reports, encouraging and providing more opportunities for voices from across the region and other countries – all this should (quietly) be in place by the end of January.

We are about to launch a reader contribution platform that will reduce our dependence on all the advertising you see on the site (the site will have no paywall at all – I promise and guarantee that to you, but if you are able to contribute, we will be happy to have you). We’ll still run some ads, but they’ll be based on local businesses and won’t interfere too much with your experience (and if you’re a local business, we’d love to hear from you).

2026 will be the 10th anniversary of Football in Berkshire. When we started in 2016, it was just me and Duds trying to find a way to satisfy our desire to be part of something that had been lost, and do something bigger than just one club. I think we achieved that and then some.

It’s been a tough 24 months or so. My work situation makes content creation much more difficult. Personally, I remain passionate about the development of grassroots gaming in our area, and I want to ensure this site is around for at least the next 10 years.

Many thanks to the team behind this siteSteve, Abi, Alicia, Rob, Neil M, Neil G, Dan, Bob and our contributors Steve Jinman and Dave Reid, among others. A very special thanks to Paul Faulkner and Andrew Spiers for their continued web support, as well as all our contributing photographers.

The date is 2026 for the diary

Monday 16 March – 10 years of Football in Berkshire. We will be hosting a celebratory evening with guest speakers and more to be announced. Let tonight be free. Tickets will be available soon

Wednesday 10 June – Berkshire Football Awards. Our annual night of football year fun, hosted by Paul Watson at the Double Barreled Brewery in Reading.

End of July – PLAION Launchpad Berkshire 5s are coming back. Can PWC retain its crown? Funding for the event, which is raising money for Reading homeless charity Launchpad, has been secured. Date TBC.

We are also indebted to both of you’Hitting the Road‘ event before the end of the season, where the Football team in Berkshire came out and promoted the grassroots game well.

Finally..

We are looking for sponsors until 2026. Be it awards nights, tournaments or the website as a whole. If you’re looking to launch your business next year, we might be the platform you’re looking for. We’re community focused, we’re local to the Berkshires, we’ll go above and beyond, and most importantly, we’ll tell people about what you do.

Contact us!

Happy New Year,

Tom Canning