Chairman's Column 10.10.2023

Now here's the thing. I was wondering just how many times a year I write, or say, the words Biggleswade United and how once in a while I could refer to the club by another name just by way of a change - a club nickname.

And while we may not have a nickname, what we do have is a very large following online, a fanbase and a media team, second to none.

So to all of our media team, our fans, online followers and everyone at the club, let's see if between us we can't come up with a catchy, appropriate, easily remembered, alternative sobriquet that we can use. Send in your suggestions to me - please keep them clean and respectful - and between us we'll come up with a name.

And talking about our media team, I wonder how many of you know just how much work between them our large team of mainly volunteers actually do - for love, not lucre - in promoting our club.

Did you know for example that we have a weekly podcast, the Biggy Talks directed and presented by Nick Witcombe and Ryan Madden which gives a balanced and informed views on all sides and all things happening at the club.

It helps give the club identity and keep everyone in the loop.

Ryan is also our match day commentator, so anyone unable to come to matches can watch or listen to them on line and by now he must have done in excess of 100 games. He also does post-match interviews with coaches and player.

Nick also doubles as announcer at home games and also joins Ryan as matchday commentator on away games.

Our newest addition is Bartosz Romanek who joined us after an event that I did at the University of Bedfordshire. He is aligned with the women's teams doing mainly match reports and interviews.

Josh Russell takes care of the Reserves and he does a bit of everything including social media and graphics, something he's been doing for the past few years. He also helps with the Men's First Team as well when he can.

Work commitments mean that Tia and Elle Thorne are not as involved now as they used to be when they were the main point of contact for the women's teams with match commentary and socials. They still come and see us as often as they can, however, and Tia has done the team photos for the last two years, with Elle helping with the behind the scenes.

Alberto Morell used to take care of the Spanish social media accounts although that took a back seat following the departure of former coach Cristian Colás although he still continues as the main help to Patri Gonzalez who co-ordinates everything as well as liaising with our graphic team in India, Aritra Bose and Arya Yuyutsu who set up the streamings, design the programmes and webpage, create the graphics and look after our socials.

Patri leads a team of around 24 people. Why do we keep such a big media team?

The main reason of course is that it is mutually beneficIal to all of us. The vast majority of people in our team are looking to gain experience in this particular field, effectively learn on the job and in the process enhance their CVs. Everyone's a winner.

It is a competitive world out there and I am more proud that I can say that we have had people working with us in the past that we have been able to assist in achieving their dreams of a career in the sports media on the back of having worked for us on a voluntary basis.

It is also vital that we have as many people as possible beating the Biggleswade United drum, explainIng not just what we do, but also how we do it and what we stand for.

We are more than aware that we will never be the biggest club in the world, although I know that through our media team we can demonstrate to the outside that we will always strive to be the very best we possibly can be and that our doors are always open.