Outstanding Contribution nominees Day 3

One of the highlights of this Sunday’s FA Community Awards presentation by McDonald's will be the 'Outstanding Contribution' category with eight fantastic volunteers in the mix for the prestigious accolade.

Today TheFA.com focuses on Mike Robinson and Caimin Rowntree:

Mike Robinson
Northumberland’s Corbridge United Juniors have set themselves up as a real community club thanks to the tireless dedication of Mike Robinson.

To simply call Mike a club secretary just wouldn’t do this grassroots volunteer justice. On top of his paperwork duties, Mike coaches his own squad of U11 players, organises referee and level one courses for club members and that’s before getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday’s to make sure that all the pitches are marked up and ready for kick-off.

Mike’s efforts have also embraced the local community with Corbridge United partnering up with Tynedale Rugby Club to secure a huge amount of funding for a brand new clubhouse facility.

“He is fantastic with all the kids at Corbridge who idolise him and the club has gone from strength to strength under his guidance support and hard work,” said club coach, Gillian Dickson.

Caimin Rowntree
This year’s Outstanding Contribution Award sees Caimin Rowntree of Bishop’s Stortford Community FC nominated posthumously.

Caimin originally took over as club chairman of Bishop’s Stortford Youth in 2003 and led them to Charter Standard Community status in 2006. This saw the club join forces with three other sides in Herts and the formation of BSCFC which is the largest club in the county with over 850 members and 60 teams for boy, girls and adults.

But this was just the start of Caimin’s plans with the club then teaming up with Birchwood High School and Herts FA to plan and deliver a brand new all-weather facility for use in the local area.

The full-size, 3G floodlit facility finally opened at Birchwood in 2007 but Caimin was already drawing up the blueprint for his next venture - having formed a new youth football section through close ties with Bishop’s Stortford FC, Caimin was now looking to fund and build a clubhouse for the project.

Tragically, Caimin would not see this particular dream come true. On the evening of 4 September 2009, he suffered a fatal heart attack. However, his nomination for Outstanding Contribution means he will be fondly remembered at The FA Community Awards presentation on Sunday.