Coronavirus: Wendron United hosts awards ceremony on Facebook

Determined to celebrate the season's achievements of their four adult squads and burgeoning youth section, the club opted to pre-record an awards ceremony and broadcast it on Facebook on Friday night.

Club chairman Peter Thorne began with a short introduction to the awards 'evening' and dedicated it to former co-chairman Kevin Williamson, who died in 2019.

First up was club president and first-team secretary Joss Bray, whose written speech came up on the screen. In it he paid tribute to each of the four senior teams at Wendron, before praising Thorne for "delivering on his promise" of installing floodlights at the club, with the club's first floodlit game having taken place in September.

Bray signed off by wishing "good luck to everyone when football eventually resumes".

Thorne, accompanied by faithful dog Pip, then made his way into the meeting room overlooking the Underlane, gesticulating to the 'crowd' as he did so, before jokingly revealing that the ceremony had to be moved due to a clash with a player's 18th birthday party in the main function room.

Club chairman Peter Thorne says hello to the 'audience' as he begins the ceremony

After thanking all of the team managers and volunteers associated with the club following an "exceptionally difficult year", Thorne proceeded to crack open the first beer of the 'evening', before praising groundsman Peter Selley for his hard work over the season, whilst simultaneously deriding first- and second-team managers Jack Greenwood and Josh McDonald for not helping to mark pitches.

Thorne, who also revealed that the players had donated their ticket money that they would have spent on attending the evening to the club, then kicked things off with the President's Cup award for first-team midfielder Ben Ringrose, who Thorne described as "a breath of fresh air for the club" and "a true gentleman".

After 'presenting' the award to Ringrose, Thorne 'handed out' the Best Newcomer award to Dan Tarrant, who pulled off the remarkable feat of playing for all four adult teams in 2019/20.

Thorne is joined by his dog for his pre-recorded speech

Up next was the Clubman of the Year award, which Thorne described as "the most important trophy at this club" and was given to first-team manager Jack Greenwood, who has had to juggle personal issues with the unenviable task of managing at the top level of Cornish football.

Before handing over to the managers of the four adult teams for their own awards, Thorne signed off by saying: "Let's all enjoy ourselves, have a party, and then later on when we all go we'll make sure we tidy up and leave the premises as we found them."

Assistant manager Mike O'Neill led the first team's awards on behalf of himself and Greenwood, before second-team manager Josh McDonald dished out his awards from his kitchen.

A well-dressed third-team manager Nic Tomba, glass of wine in hand, followed suit before fourth-team manager Bob Trise wrapped up the ceremony.

Awards

First team

Under-21 Player of the Season: Freddie Walter

Over-30 player of the season: Scott Palmer

Valerie Martin Sporting Award: Kian Thomas

Most Improved Player: Lucas Potts

Top Goalscorer: Jack Stocker

Best Trainer: Finn Robinson

Manager's Player: Joe Chapman

Players' Player: Ben Ringrose and Jack Stocker

Second team:

Sporting Award: The Bowden family

Most Improved: Kian Thomas

Top goalscorer: Sam Fuller

Most Promising: Callum Thompson

Manager's Player: Max Bowden

Players' Player: Kian Thomas

Third team:

Sporting Award: Harry Badcock

Top Goalscorer: Zac Alexander and Matt Trise

Most Improved: Matt Trise

Most Promising: Ryan Bennetto

Manager's Player: Tom Collins

Players' Player: Jordan Oakden-Matthews

Fourth team:

Sporting award: Ryan Lang

Top Goalscorer: Craig Owens

Most Promising: Charlie Rogers and Jack Yates

Manager's Player: Dan Coleman

Players' Player: Craig Owens