Pre Season Tour? Go on then......

Dunstable FC is proud to confirm that the Men’s First Team has been invited to participate in

the inaugural Better Together Cup taking place at Blyth Spartans AFC over the weekend of

July 18th and 19th.

The weekend tournament sees Dunstable FC join Blyth Spartans AFC, Ashington AFC &

Horley Town FC compete for pre-season silverware.

The Tournament is to raise awareness of mental health issues and is being supported by

QTS Data Centres.

Steve O’Reilly & Micky Nathan will be taking a squad of 20 players on the trip to

Northumberland to take on Step 4 opposition.

The SSMFL season starts on July 25 th, so the Tournament provides plenty of opportunities

for players to get minutes ahead of the annual Aaron Bateman Trophy match due to be

played at Creasey Park on Tuesday 21 st July.

Off the field, Dunstable FC will be represented at a pre-Tournament conference at Blyth

Spartans on Friday 17th July.

The conference brings together non-league clubs actively promoting mental health

awareness. In attendance along with Kev Miles, FSA CEO & Chair of BSAFC, will be former Watford, QPR, Blackpool, Leeds & Burnley player Clarke Carlisle, who made 470

professional appearances. Clarke has also been Chair of the PFA & last month was

announced as Chair of Mind.

Peter Bottom, Ian Bateman ,Chris Bryden, Andrew Madaras & Angel Moore will be

representing the Club at the Conference and will be able to share the wide range of mental

health initiatives that the Club provides for people with lived experience of mental health

problems.

Dunstable FC’s invitation to attend the Tournament is an acknowledgement of the pioneering work undertaken by the Club who have put mental health at the heart of the Club’s off-field activities and underpin its role as social enterprise.

First Team Joint Manager, Steve O’Reilly said, “We’re delighted to be taking part in this preseason tournament and to have the opportunity to test ourselves against a quality opposition over the two days. It also provides the perfect chance to spend extended time together as a squad ahead of the new campaign.

Supporters from the three other competing clubs may be puzzled by the new name of the

Club. Dunstable FC is the name supporters of both clubs chose to mark the merger of

Dunstable Town FC & AFC Dunstable. Directors, Committee Members, supporters & individual owners of supporter owned Dunstable Town FC voted overwhelmingly to merge the clubs and represent the proud histories of both clubs.

Dunstable FC remains a community/supporter owned club and belongs to the FSA’s

Community Owned Club network. The Club operates as a social enterprise organising

fourteen different community groups supporting over 275 local people every week.