ISimon Coffey unlaced his well-worn boots. It had been a good day. In fact, one of the best in a number of good days. Brockham Badgers’ Head of Football and U13s coach, had taken a group of boys from the local community, of mixed abilities, and improved them step-by-step, year-by-year. And this day, they had stepped out onto the immaculate pitch at Southampton FC’s training ground to play a team from the Saints’ Academy – some of the best young players on the south coast.

Youth football clubs can be divided broadly into two categories. There are elite clubs who decide the standard they will play at, and select the boys (often through trials) who are capable of competing at that level. Community clubs, on the other hand, welcome all comers in the area, generally regardless of ability, and let the resulting team find its own level. As a village-based club, Brockham Badgers is firmly in the latter camp. Anyone who wants to play is welcome to join – first-come, first-served. There are 300 boys and girls, in 20 teams, playing at the widest range of levels.

The majority of Simon’s U13 squad are the same boys who turned up as six year olds, because they wanted to play with their friends in the village club. Starting in the friendly Tadworth League, based at a local primary school, the squad has taken a step up each year until, this season, they found themselves in the Surrey Youth League Premier Elite. Finishing third, the U13 Badgers were outperformed only by AFC Wimbledon and Tooting & Mitcham, elite clubs with the pick of some of the best young football talent in South London. A village-based community club rubbing shoulders and competing with such company – it’s a little like Crawley Town knocking at the door of the Big Four.

Always looking for the next test, in April Simon Coffey took his U13s to face a team from Southampton FC. As is common when an Academy plays a grassroots club, the Saints fielded a number of under-age players, but the fact Brockham won the game 2-0 was still another landmark achievement. And Simon, who works as a gamekeeper, hadn’t turned poacher to nick a win. The victory was deserved against technically gifted opponents, as his team worked their absolute hardest, playing attacking, fluent football – ball on the ground, pass and move.

“Winning is fantastic. It’s what we all want,” admits Simon in characteristically succinct and direct style. “The important point is that we don’t want to win at the expense of the boys getting better, or at the cost of sportsmanship or enjoying playing the game.”

With so much debate about how to coach young players and ensure their football remains fun and fair, Simon has developed his side without compromising Brockham’s ethos. “I’ve been fortunate to have a group of boys come along, capable of being coached to the higher grassroots levels,” he says. “But it’s the journey that matters more than the destination. We want every boy or girl who joins the club to enjoy playing regular sport and fulfil their potential. So I’d be happy coaching any team, competing at any standard, so long as they were developing.”

For Simon, youth football is about introducing young people to the game, developing them through childhood, and finally presenting them with a range of options to continue playing at whatever level suits them into adulthood. On the way from age 6 to 16, other sports and past times get in the way; boys may leave the club for other pursuits, but rarely does a player give up because it’s no longer fun. On the contrary, in recent seasons, teams that have grown up together and reached the end of their Brockham Badgers careers have chosen to stay together and move into men’s football.

This weekend, Simon Coffey’s U13s will have to compete without his coaching expertise. As one of the founding members of the Brockham tournament team, he will be co-ordinating the volunteer referees across sixteen pitches. He’ll also be leading by example: firm but fair in his decisions, talking to, laughing with and encouraging the young player, but brooking no dissent.

As questions continue to be asked about the example set to grassroots players by the more extreme histrionics of Premiership stars who argue and dive their way through a game, has Simon noticed any of the more extreme behaviour rubbing off on young players? “They might copy things like goal celebrations,” he says, “but, in all honesty, I’ve yet to see a boy seriously engaging in simulation. I wouldn’t condone the behaviour of some top class players, but it’s all too easy to blame them for any poor sportsmanship at grassroots level. Coaches and parents have to take responsibility for the behaviour of their boys, set the standards they expect and put a quick stop to anyone who tries to copy anything untoward”.