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Testwood United Boys Football Club was formed in February 1986.
The original management committee had been involved locally with another club but became disenchanted and decided that their ambitions would only be realised ‘under new management’. They advertised for players for their first season 1986/87 and entered the Tyro League. Only two age groups (at U10/U11) were accepted as Testwood United, and the other two sides entered the U12/U13 Tyro League as Forestfield. The following season all sides were accepted as Testwood United in the Tyro League and have been so since. A more recent milestone for the club was achieving the FA Charter Standard Award in December 2006, of which we are very proud. Testwood achieved this by implementing all the requirements needed as per Hampshire FA Standards. This meant all managers and coaches are at least level one qualified, with some reaching level two, incorporating First Aid and Child Protection, CRB checks, introducing codes of conduct for all members of the club.
We have had some famous footballers involved with the Club: Mark Wright (ex-Saints/Liverpool/England), Andy Townsend (ex-Saints/Aston Villa/Ireland), Kevin Bond (ex-Saints/Norwich). Many more have come back more than once for Presentation Nights over the years.
The Club has won the Hampshire Cup on five occasions, and achieved a ‘treble’ on two occassions. They have done well in many other competitions and have travelled far and wide. Teams have travelled to Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Scotland and to many places in this country to play football.
Testwood United are a well established club which has continued to grow and progressed well since their formation in 1986. Many of the boys progress from the club to play regularly in the Sydenhams Wessex League and Hampshire League.
All our older boys sides play in the upper leagues of each age group in the Tyro League, whilst the younger sides play in the Eastleigh & District Mini Soccer Leagues. Our girls teams compete in the New Forest Girls League and Winchester District Girls League. We have in the past run sides at Under 16 and Under 18 in the Southampton Youth League when the manager has decided to continue.
We have supported the Saints Academy, the Schools of Excellence at Portsmouth and Bournemouth. One of our boys, Stephen Hunt, has since gone on to become a fully professional player. Having had spells with Southampton and Colchester, Stephen is currently playing for Notts County.
We pride ourselves with the standard of football played by our sides, the standard of coaching our teams are getting, and the behaviour of all our members. Together with the sociable character of the Club, where the Social Committee works hard to bring all teams together, to unite the Club. We hope that our enthusiasm ‘rubs off’ onto the players and their parents so that they can reap the benefits of what they put into it.
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