A FOOTBALL mum has been named as the first winner of a new award for grassroots volunteers.

Frinton and Walton Youth Football Club fixture secretary Lisa Ursell picked up the Essex FA accolade as part of its new Celebrate Essex initiative.

Lisa praised the fantastic team of volunteers who keep the club going after topping a Twitter poll to find the best “Footie Mum” in Essex.

The award is aimed at encouraging new faces to get involved in grassroots football.

Lisa’s role involves booking matches and she also helps out with the under 16s where her son has played for the last six years.

She does the administration for the team, making sure the players know where the games are and the times of training, and she ensures they have enough players to play each match Lisa’s responsibilities also extend to helping run their clubhouse at Frinton Park.

One of her daughters is enjoying her first season playing for the club’s under 9s girls and she additionally tries to organise a rota for their clubhouse to be looked after by volunteers each Sunday.

She said: “It’s great for our club to get the recognition it deserves.

“Sometimes it can be hard, but it really is a great club to be a part of. Someone is always on-hand to answer a question or offer support.

“I’m part of a fantastic team full of people who all give up so much time to make the club what it is.”

Lisa first got involved with the club in 2015 when her son’s manager left.

She offered to help out and ended up taking on the role of the club’s social secretary, organising Christmas parties and events for all of their teams, like the Christmas fair, the quiz night and the club’s presentation day.

She said: “We have a group of 20 mums and nans who help out with the clubhouse.

“As a lot of our volunteers have children in multiple teams, I try and make sure people don’t miss their own children’s matches.”

Lisa opted to reinvest her prize back into the club, and picked some Respect signs as her reward to promote good practice and excellent behaviour at home matches.

She said: “Keeping the clubhouse going really is a massive team effort and we couldn’t do it without the support of our dedicated volunteers.”

To find out more about the #CelebrateEssex Competition, go to essexfa.com.