The League has been informed of the tragic death of the Borrowash Victoria FC player Joe Kellogg.  It is reported that Joe collapsed during a training session with the Derbyshire club on Tuesday evening and never regained consciousness and passed away in the Royal Derby Hospital.

The Leagues Chairman David Jamieson has issued a brief statement on behalf of the League

 'At this very sad time our thoughts are with his family and Borrowash Victoria Football Club'.

AROUND THE COUNTIES The Final Review Covers Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th May   Six points from their last two matches duly crowned GRESLEY FC as worthy league champions. And in doing so they set two attendance records. On Wednesday at HOLBROOK SPORTS the Brookies had their biggest ever East Midlands Counties League crowd of 289 to see the Moatmen win 3-1 with goals from Danny Holmes, Gareth Langford and Carl Slater. They followed this up last Saturday with a 1-0 win over fellow title aspirants GEDLING MINERS WELFARE thanks to Carl Slater’s 22nd minute strike. A record League crowd of 651 watched the game and it was the biggest crowd ever attracted to an East Midlands Counties League game in the four years of the league. BORROWASH VICTORIA will finish as runners-up, and although it would appear that they still have to replay their game at HINCKLEY FC, they will remain in second place. Karl Demidh led the way with a brace of goals in their 5-1 win at ANSTEY NOMADS, with Wayne Thornhill, Jamie Pawley and Graham O’Reilly netting the others. Lee Charles was the home scorer. HEANOR TOWN’s ‘second chance’ game at HINCKLEY FC ended in the same was as their initial visit – in defeat, but the two goals they scored in the five goal game brought their total to the season to 118 and made them the League’s leading scorers. The Lions finish third with GEDLING MINERS WELFARE fourth following their last day defeat at GRESLEY. RADCLIFFE OLYMPIC ended their season in style with two victories and not a goal conceded. Their home midweek game against wooden spoonists BLACKLWELL MINERS WELFARE was won by Wes Spencer’s 69th minute strike, and they ended their campaign by scoring six goals without reply on their visit to HOLWELL SPORTS. Three goals in each half did the trick with Josh Royce, 3, and Ryan Smith, 2, leading the rout. BARROW TOWN will rue their home form which saw them drop 26 points in their 19 games, yet away from home they were in splendid form winning 14 times, more than any other club in the league. A brace of goals either side of the interval from Carl Adams gave them a 2-0 win at HINCKLEY FC in midweek, but it was back down to earth last Saturday when they could only share the spoils with visiting BARDON HILL to Riverside Park in a six goal stalemate. Carl Adams continued his end-of-season goalscoring form by putting his side ahead on ten minutes only for Kev Ward to level for the Quarrymen within a minute. Connor Hardy put Barrow back in pole position before the break and Carl Adams added his second of the match ten minutes after the interval to seemingly give Barrow the points. But a brace of goals from Sam Surridge restored parity and ensured a share of the spoils. The basement clash between IBSTOCK UNITED and GEDLING TOWN ended in a home win by the odd goal of five in midweek. Jack Kyte helped himself to a hat-trick and Tian Walton got both for the visitors with all five goals coming in the second half. But the Saturday fixture at Lenton Lane saw GREENWOOD MEADOWS come out on top by 2-0 with Danny Prance and an Alex Haughton penalty sending IBSTOCK home pointless from this one. Second half goals from Dan Gallagher and Jermain Gordon, the latter his second of the week, gave HINCKLEY FC a share of the spoils against a RADFORD side who have certainly found better form in the last two or three weeks of the season. Sadly though, not in time to save them from a 19th place finish. Curtly Martin-Wyatt got both of their goals. HOLBROOK SPORTS will consider their season to have been more than satisfactory. They had an excellent run in both the FA Cup and FA Vase and have also reached Tuesday’s League Cup Final. In addition to that they have recovered from a slow start in the league to overcome a very congested end-of-season fixture list caused by cup runs and the inclement weather, to finish a very creditable sixth. That being achieved by a last day 2-1 win over a ST ANDREWS side visiting the O’kra Ground. Jordan Gregory and James Ozmen for Holbrook and Andy Brett for the visitors were the scorers in yet another game where all the goals came in the second half. THURNBY NIRVANA hit winning form on the last day as well, beating visiting BLACKWELL MINERS WELFARE 2-0 with late goals from Sean Phillips and Jordan Smith. Smith’s 85th minute strike ensures that he finishes the season as the League’s leading goalscorer with 33.  THURNBY look forward to the League Cup Final against HOLBROOK SPORTS on Tuesday at Gresley’s Moat Ground (7.45pm).  

Dave I don't have a scanner - not that clever.  But attached reproduced word for word from local papers Ripley & Heanor News and Belper News and I thought you might like to see and find it good publicity for the league. Stan   

Dallas Trip for Referee 

  Belper referee Tim Walker is jetting off on a once-in-a-lifetime trip.   The 21-year-old has been identified by the Derbyshire County Football Association as a star of the future and has been appointed as one of eight referees from across the country to represent The Football Association at the prestigious 2011 Dallas Cup International youth tournament which hosts teams from Under 14 through to Under-18 level.   Competing teams at this year’s annual event will be Arsenal, Barcelona, SC Corinthians (Brazil), Eintract Frankfurt, Tigres (Mexico), Club Bolivar (Bolivia) and the Japan Under-18 National Team.   Tim flies out to Dallas on April 11 and will be there for three weeks with the tournament  starting on April 16.   He said: “You are only allowed to be chosen once for this tournament so it really is a once in a lifetime trip for me.”   Tim was chosen as the top candidate to represent the Derbyshire, Notts and Lincolnshire area.   Whilst in the States, he will be staying with an American family but he will also have the challenge of having to develop the many skills required to officiate teams which do not speak English whilst considering the different cultures and attitudes of players and officials.   Despite his young age, Tim is now in his eighth season of officiating and has already climbed to level four.  Walker regularly handles games involving Heanor Town and Holbrook Sports as well as Derby County Under-18s fixtures.  He has also run the line in the Evostik Premier Division  

The Committee of Radcliffe Olympic FC are delighted to announce the appointment of John Adams to the position of First Team Manager with immediate effect.
Club Secretary Michael Bradley commented; 'John impressed us all in his interview with his blend of passion and experience as a player, manager and coach. We are extremely pleased to welcome him into this key position for the future development of our club.'
Upon his appointment, John commented; 'I am extremely excited by the challenge of taking up this new role. I would like to thank Radcliffe Olympic for giving me this opportunity, and I look forward to becoming part of a continually successful team.'
John will now be concentrating on preparing the first team squad for the coming season in the EMCL.
John's appointment marks the end of the tenure of Jamie Brodie and Craig Clarke as First Team Manager and Assistant Manager respectively. Jamie and Craig have both decided to step down for personal reasons, and will now be staying within the club as members of the Mens section committee. Radcliffe Olympic would like to take the opportunity to thank Jamie and Craig for the massive successes that they have brought to the club.