Will the Poly Suit Me?
The club is a long standing institution whose lifeblood is its playing members. Teams are normally run by their captains and there are no formal coach or manager figures (although some captains have coaching qualifications).
This setup requires a membership who show commitment and maturity, whatever their actual ages are. That means committing to being available for most Saturdays and supporting your captain by communicating your availability, turning up in good time, paying your membership and match fees as they are due and taking your turn with washing the team kit.
In return, the club offers excellent playing facilities, well organised training sessions and a wide and friendly network of amateur football players from all walks of life.
How do I Join?
The best approach is to come and join a training session - see the About the Poly page for details. Alternatively you could visit the club on a Saturday afternoon (September to April) and ask for one of the captains after the game (bear in mind that captains are quite busy before and obviously during the matches). Alternatively you can contact the club by email (see the Contact Us link) for further information.
As general guidance, you might need to be a little patient when joining as we often find ourselves with a large number of members at some times of the year, particularly early in the season. However this tends to ease as the season goes on and players are lost to injuries and so on. The best strategy is to train regularly and make yourself known to several captains whilst you wait for an opportunity to arise - they will certainly be impressed by persistence!
What does it cost?
Sadly hiring football pitches, paying for referees, league memberships and hospitality all costs money (probably more than you would imagine). So there is a cost involved.
For 2009-10 the annual memberships are
£80 full member | £40 Students/Unwaged | £50 Veterans (who typically play fewer games).
There is also a match fee to pay of around £8-10 per game.