Whitehead a cut above

Saddleworth Rangers ARLFC coach John Whitehead and his UK Coaching Awards nomination.

GREENFIELD’S John Whitehead has been nominated for the Gillette Community Coach of the Year Award for his fantastic work with Saddleworth Rangers ARLFC.

Whitehead helped out the under-nines team this year, in which his youngest son Thomas was playing, before the head coach left the club due to work commitments

Faced with the prospect of the team stopping altogether, Whitehead volunteered his time and took over the reins.

In the year that Whitehead has been at the helm, the team has almost doubled in size and continues to go from strength to strength.

And the 42-year-old admitted the nomination from Gillette, which recognises that coaching is an essential part of the future success of sport in the UK, had come as a real surprise.

“I honestly thought it was a wind-up when I first got the letter telling me that I had been nominated,” he said.

“It’s like a family at this club,” added Whitehead, who thanked assistant coach Nick Jackson and parent helper Anna Barnes for their support as well as team sponsors Monarch Metals and Future Safety.

“or the full version of this story buy the Chronicle or read the eChron and iChron digital versions.