Post by Dave on Jun 1, 2013 7:16:21 GMT
One of the very best and nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to know is a certain Mr Barry Hayward, a man who has given so much to local football. Not only did he play the game himself way past the age most players have long hung up their boots, he has been a manager, a local referee and has also spent many years working as a SDL officer and a whole lot more as well.
Whenever you see him he always has a smile on his face and time for a chat and South Devon League football has been very lucky to have such a man being a part of it for so many years. I remember him playing in a cup final for Hookhills many years ago at the Rec in Newton Abbot; he ended up having to be carried off the pitch on a stretcher. I joked with him that day that he was getting too old to still be playing the game, but I’m sure he put on his boots for a good number of games after that.
I often see him when I go and watch a game played at Whiterock as he runs the line for Hookhills still and also when I have gone and watched a local ladies match as Barry has also played a big part in local ladies football.
But his days as the manager of Brixham Villa Ladies has come to an end and the report from the Herald Express below, shows what an important part he has played in local woman’s football.
Barry Hayward has brought an era to a close in the history of women’s football in Devon, hanging up his clipboard after nearly thirty years.Barry started managing in the 1980s, with Exeter Rangers and Liverton Ladies his first clubs.
By the start of the 1990s, Torquay United had become interested in running a Ladies team and he became involved there. After a couple of seasons Barry’s wife Lee had returned to playing at Exeter Rangers and he returned with her, running the line for the team and acting as first aider.
In 1997 Stoke Gabriel set up a Ladies’ side, based around the Nortel team which used to take part in the company tournament. An advert in the Herald Express recruited others, including Lee, who had still been turning out for Exeter Rangers in the first season of the new Westward Developments Devon Womens League.
Stoke entered the League and Barry took over as manager until 2000 when a change of policy at Stoke saw a small nucleus of players staying together, although nine players moved to the new Totnes Town team.
A summer of concentrated recruiting brought a new team together under the Paignton Town name, including a significant proportion of players who had not played football before. An opening defeat of 8-0 was a baptism of fire, but five of that season’s players are still involved with the club – a testament to the loyalty that Barry inspires.
During the 2000-01 season the team hired Galmpton United’s pitch on a couple of occasions and accepted an offer of a more permanent arrangement the following season, which involved another name change.
By 2008 Galmpton wished to pursue other revenue streams on a Sunday, at a time when Brixham Villa boasted two age group girls’ teams, and were actively seeking to run a women’s team as well. The club threw in with Villa, and enjoyed four seasons at a welcoming and well-run club.
Unfortunately, in the amalgamation between Brixhams Villa and United, it became apparent that a women’s team was not a priority for the new club, so at the start of the 2012-13 season the Ladies team struck out on their own once more as an independent club – retaining the otherwise redundant Brixham Villa name, with Barry still in the managerial seat.
The decision to retire from the sharp end of team management was a difficult one, although Barry is not walking away from the club completely, as he is remaining on the committee in the Villa Chair. Since the Stoke Gabriel days the club estimates that about 140 players have trained and played as part of his teams
.
Managing the Hayward way always included a friendly welcome to players of all abilities, sometimes including very basic instruction for those who had never kicked a football before. His aim has always been for women to enjoy the sport of football, no matter what their ability and, although playing success was limited to one promotion, his teams have won fair play awards on a number of occasions.
His successors, Sarah Webster and Luke McFarlane, have been promoted from within the Brixham Villa club.
Barry’s style was never aggressive, and he preferred the power of silence to the “hairdryer” treatment when a point had to be made. He also approached matches with a sense of humour so it was perhaps inevitable that the team would choose to mark the Guv’nor’s final match with an informal photocall, featuring one of his regular pieces of advice, “Relax!”.