It was a grey, wet day at the start of February when Taffs Well faced Cwmbran Celtic – but there was one particular bright spot for the Wellmen beyond the 6-2 result.
Their matchday photographs, shared across their very active social networks, were snapped by 16-year-old club volunteer Jack Amos.
And chairman Kevin Francis is delighted to have more young people coming through the turnstiles and getting involved.
“It’s a passion of mine – it’s the reason I’m involved in Taffs Well,” he reveals. “I was a fan, sitting on the side, and after a while, people started noticing me and I got introduced to the committee.”
Kevin – who works in government policy in his day job – developed the club’s website and social media presence, changing their engagement with the community and in particular younger people.
“If I was 15 and I lived round the corner, I’d be coming here, I live football – but we weren’t reaching them,” he says. “So instead of hoping they’d stumble upon us, we had to go out and reach them.”
Jack – now 16 – was one of the young fans who began coming along to almost every game, and was welcomed warmly.
“Jack has got to know people, he’s a fixture of the club,” says Kevin. “He’s one of our diehard loyal fans.”
Because Jack wanted to get more involved, and Kevin was getting busier and busier on a matchday and unable to handle photography, there was a simple solution. The camera was handed over to Jack, with a little bit of coaching – and his action photos are now being used across the club’s outlets.
“We’ve noticed more people coming through the gates who are under 25 – that’s the drive, to get the next generation,” says Kevin.
“It’s about saying football isn’t on your phone, it’s in the stands and all the sights and sounds that go with that. That’s what we’re trying to do: show the atmosphere, build the atmosphere, encourage more people to come down and snowball effect from there.”
