Blunsdon United F.C.

Blunsdon United is a local football club based in the village of Broad Blunsdon, Wiltshire, playing in the Swindon League. The club has two mottos.
The first club motto is "pro bono publico" - For the public good which is on the top of the badge.
Another club other motto is "Quocunque Jeceris Stabit", which translates to Whithersoever you throw it, it will stand. This is displayed at the bottom of the badge.
History
The club, established in 1955, uses a duck for its badge. But the badge was modified in 2005 by including the mottos into the badge.
Blunsdon United was formed by the merger of two even smaller football teams, Broad Blunsdon FC (established on 13th of August 1947, based in the village of Broad Blunsdon) and St Andrew Church of England AFC (established on 7th of October in 1926 and based in the village of Blunsdon St Andrew by the local parish church).
It is a grass-roots football club held in high regard by the village of Blunsdon, seen by locals as keeping Blunsdon "independent", a bulwark against the anonymity of absorption by the sprawling northern suburbs of Swindon.
With the opening of the A419 Blunsdon bypass in winter 2008, it is not yet known whether this will have an major effect for the future of the club. The club expects the attendance of fans from Swindon to drop, due to the new road bypassing Blunsdon, allowing them to watch the more conveniently and easier to get to Swindon Town instead.
On the 4 January 2009, the club appointed Dr Heng Ratchonchaiya as the new manager, in a desperate bid to improve the club performance. It is Ratchonchaiya first football management job, but with a degree in MSc Management and PhD in Mathematics, the club directors hopes Heng can used his educational experience to improve the team performance on the pitch. He has displayed a fierce and competitive personality in the past. The club also hopes that Heng Ratchonchaiya can helped the club gained popularity in Thailand.
Badge
The club celebrated its 50th year anniversary on May 12005. For this celebration the club announced a minor change to the Blunsdon United club badge.
A 4 ray sun and a crescent moon will be added to the top left and top right corner of the badge respectively. In addition, the duck is slightly modified to include a gold necklace around the neck of the duck with the number 50 on it.
According to the club statement, the necklace will represent the 50 "golden" years the club have and hopefully enjoy for the next 50 years, and the sun and moon represent the hope that Blunsdon United will last as long as the sun and the moon!
The club motto is "pro bono publico" is displayed at the top of the badge and the motto "Quocunque Jeceris Stabit" appear at the bottom of the duck.
Nickname
The origin of the club nickname "Ducks" comes from a dream the chairman Lingo Phome have one night before the merger of Broad Blunsdon FC and Blunsdon St Andrew CoE AFC.
In Lingo Phome dream, some ducks was winning in a game of football against some snakes. The chairman takes this as an omen for the club, which generated the nickname "Ducks" for Blunsdon United.
Ground
Previously the club has no permanent grounds, being required to play in an open field "known as William Garden" owned by a local farmer, who uses it to train horses in the summer months (making the field unavailable to the team).
Other former temporary grounds in the club's history are Penhill Fields, Blunsdon St Andrew Ground, Gloucester Victory Park, Eltham Grove and Stockwell.
On April 13, 2005 the club moved to Warwick Park, a large field behind the semi-detached houses on Ermin Street. This will be their permanent ground for the next 15 years. The field is behind door numbers 20 to number 32 of the houses in Ermin Street. It is commonly known by the local fans as "Mary's Shed" or "Mary's Backyard".
This ground was purchased by the drug and tobacco company ThuyPN, which is based in Streatham, south London. The ground and the stadium is called Warwick Park and have a capacity for 150 people.
Club
The club sponsor is Headlands WC the toilet maintenance and repair company, based in Upper Stratton, north east Swindon. It was the club first ever sponsor, started in 1996 and ended in late 2001. On October 28, 2006 the club announced a sponsorship deal with local retail business Oriental Touch based in Swindon. The owners are both Blunsdon United fans.
Originally, most of the players in the team were over 30, but more recently the average age has significantly lowered to around 22.
The current manager is Landon Khanfan. The chairman is Lingo Phome, who is famous in the Swindon League for making strange and outrageous comments.
Local rivals to the club are Penhill Pirates, Penhill United, Headlands Grove, Pinehurst Vale, FC Abbey Meads, and Highworth Town. All the teams are based in northern Swindon and the surrounding countryside.
In 2002 Blunsdon United was named "Unsung Team of the Year 2002" in the Swindon Evening Advertiser and was mentioned in a small article in the national tabloid The Sun. The club has been noted for improving social behaviour in Blunsdon: for example, three local teenagers who had exhibited anti-social behaviour in the past had their football skills rewarded with a full-time contract partly funded by local charity, and are said to have since expressed the opinion that their lives have taken a turn for the better.
The club's founder is a woman who doubles as "Ling the Duckling", the club's mascot. On April 18, 2004, fans staged a large protest against her proposal to change the name of the club to "Blunsdon Ducks United"; the proposal was subsequently withdrawn. Also on September 13,2004, local rivals Penhill Pirates approach to take over the team was turn down.
The team has never won a final. Their closest run was a 2004 defeat in the local final against the Swindon Supermarine in the Victory Challenge Cup.
On December 27 2004, the club started to hand out awards to players for their contribution to the team for the year for the first time in its history.
Club records
Highest recorded attendance of 39. This was set in 29th August 2004 against Dunraven Rovers in the home tie of the semi-final of the North Swindon Cup.
Lowest recorded attendance is 2. Bizarre incident when most of the fans travel to London to see Blunsdon United play Dunraven Rovers away in a cup game. But the game was quickly changed to a home tie at Blunsdon United due to a water-logged pitch at Brixton Palace (home of Dunraven Rovers). So the match was quickly arranged to a home tie at Blunsdon United therefore the fans cannot get to the game in time. Strangely the spectator is one man and his dog.
Biggest Win: 7 - 1 against Eltham FC in the Walworth Trophy in 1999.
Greatest Defeat: 2 - 7 against Warneford Wanderers in the Swindon League in 1985.
Highest goal scoring game: 6 - 4 against Academy of Peckham FC in the Gloucester Primary Trophy.
Most appearances for the club: Tommy and Henry Twins. The two brothers have over 150 appearances each for Blunsdon United from July 2000 onwards.
Highest transfer fee: £49.98 for Namberto "Nam" Guyen, from club Stockwell and Victory FC on 27 December 2000.
Oldest Player Ever: Current goalkeeper Phil Vansan is currently the club oldest ever player. He is now 52 years old but ever reliable.
Youngest Player Ever: Jason Fan make his debut at age 16 against Blunsdon St Andrew Juniors.
Current squad
:As of 1 May, 2008.
Memorable Quotes
* "One beautiful day, a radiant day, Mr Khanfan phone me and said I should put a shopping list together" - Lingo Phome, when reappointed as chairman of Blunsdon United.
* "I can guarantee a nice clean game. Since we are all professional players, it is our duty and honour to hold our proud standard of football high. It would be a joke to suggest any player will be sent off in the match. Remember this is football, not a war!" - Captain Keith Hann hopes for the game, before the controversial match with rivals Penhill Pirates.
* "I never make predictions, and I never will, so I will predict that we will beat Penhill Pirates 6 nil." - Keith Hann
* "If God had meant us to play football in the sky, God would have put grass up there!" ? Landon Khanfan hit back at Bob Ferguson criticism by laughing at the Long Ball tactics used by Penhill Pirates players.
* " Of the seven red cards this season we probably deserved half of them" - Lingo Phome on the club discipline.
* " It was a game we should have won. We lost it because we thought we were going to win it. But then again, I thought that there was no way we were going to get a result there. It is very easy to understand, isn't it?" - Lingo Phome post match reaction to the game.
* "I think Keith Hann plays like a shark. Also Terry Huaw is my new little lion. And I like lions" - Lingo Phome on Keith Hann and Thierry Huaw
* "Lingo Phome once said Keith Hann is like a shark and Terry Huaw is like a lion. Well for me, William Fann is another natural born predator. In fact, he is actually the world greatest diving cheetah" - Bob Ferguson, adds to the Blunsdon United zoo!
* "I will never be harsh and criticise any of my players and hopefully never will, but Thuytis Phuone has totally cost us a trophy and has wreck our best ever season" - Lingo Phome, after the defeat in the club first ever final, against Swindon Supermarines.
* "I think Ling Dong goal was a fluke, it was quite sunny today, so I think the sunlight might have reflected off Ling teeth and blinded their goalkeeper" - Lingo Phome reflecting on Ling Dong first ever goal for the club from a free kick.
* "I would not say William Fann is the best right winger that I have ever seen in my life. But there are none better" - Keith Hann
* "If they hadn't scored, we would've won, sometimes in football you have to score goals!" - Terry Huaw
* "I hope the manager is not changing our attacking formation against Swindon Supermarine for the cup final. For example playing with wingers is more effective against European sides like Brazil than English sides like Wales" - Lingo Phome on the team formation ahead of the Victory Challenge Cup final.
* "I have score many lucky goals in my footballing life because I am always there, trying to shoot. For me the best goals are the ones like this when the ball just crosses the line" Keith Hann on those goals that cross the line.
* "I am happy when our fans are happy, when our players are happy and our manager is on the moon" - Lingo Phome (he meant the manager is over the moon!)
* "This league is going to be tougher than ever next season and if you just stand still you end up going backwards." - Lingo Phome
* "With my excellent knowledge of Shock Theory and Advection equations, I feel I can used it to good effect in the sporting field, I hope to to make Blunsdon United the best supported club in Thailand" - New manager Dr Heng Ratchonchaiya when first appointed as manager.
* "There is no such things as intensive pressure being a manager. Now doing FORTRAN and reading the notes on FORTRAN, that's what I called real pressure. I still haven't finished it after three years" - Dr Heng Ratchonchaiya opinion on pressure being a manager.
* "Not speaking English is a problem. You've always got his interpreter running around the training ground. Sometimes you pass the ball through the middle and he chases it. And the interpreter is running alongside him and he gets in there and heads into the net!" - Dr Ratchonchaiya opinion on interpretors use for Ling Dong
* "He would chase a piece of paper on a windy day." - Dr Ratchonchaiya commented on Keith Hann workrate
Miscellaneous
Strange Injuries
* Thierry Huaw once suffered a strange injury. He damaged his left foot when he celebrated his goal by kicking the advertising hoardings.
* William Fann once got knocked unconscious by a ball flung at him by a male streaker. When regaining conscious, William was heard muttering to Keith Hann "Who am I?, What am I doing here?". On hearing this, Lingo Phome shouted to Keith Hann "Tell him he is Maradona!, we are not gonna to win with him on the floor."
Other Occupations
* William Fann worked as a part time model. A number of middle-aged fans have known to faint when seeing him, due to his amazing good looks.
* Dr Heng Ratchonchaiya has published three books, "Thai-Chinese mix, my favorite dish", "The observation of birds and their appearances in the library" and "The Fun Guide to Fortran and Mathlab".
Source

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See Also

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