THE Hornets were recently named 'Community Club of the Year' for 2008 at the Football League Awards in London.

Watford's Community Sports & Education Trust works with a huge number of people every year throughout Hertfordshire and the wider area. The Hornets' Trust engage with the community - from soccer schools, to local neighbourhood schemes and social inclusion projects - the Golden Boys reach out and work with those who live in the local areas.

Rob Smith, Head of Community Development, was understandably pleased with the award, he said: "Its nice to be recognised, obviously we don't do it for the awards but to be recognised by the football industry makes it very worthwhile and I think it's a reflection of a lot of people's hard work right across the club - not just in the community department.

"In the time I've been here I've seen things improve in terms of the commitment to community - the emphasis as a club in focusing in on the work that we do, making sure that we are engaging with all sections of the community.

"We try to encourage youngsters to be future fans but it's also about the club putting something back into those local communities."

By Smith's own admission the growth of the Trust has been extraordinary. Year-on-year the Trust has grown in size, stature and quality.

Now a large Trust team operate from the club's offices at Wolsey Business Park - a far cry from Smith's early days with the 'Orns where the Community Department was housed in a broom cupboard!

Now based at the heart of the club, the Trust is key to the club's objectives. He added: "I joined the club in November 1996 as an Assistant Community Officer to the one officer already in place.

"If you think about two people in an office - we were the Trust. It started from there, the growth has been immense, especially in the last four years since we became a registered charity. Since that point we've been very clear about our vision and what we want to achieve."

The range of sports on offer by the Trust has grown and that has been a specific target over the last few years. 

"During the last two years especially we've been very clear about what we want to do in our key areas of work. We have the core programmes of delivery if you like - the traditional holiday courses, working with schools and leisure centres and grass roots football.

"But we've opened that up now to more generic sports because we've got a lot of passionate, talented people at the club who believe in the value of sport and what it can do. I think that will be the focus moving forward.   

"Quite a lot of the different sport we offer is tied in with the social inclusion work, because we're trying to engage with some disaffected youngsters. It's about trying to use the attraction of the football club but also other sports to try and engage with those youngsters and give them something positive and give them some opportunities."

The competition on offer is immense in the community world - the awards in London showed a glimpse of what else is on offer from the likes of Wycombe, Charlton, Colchester and Norwich. Each club with their own individual needs of the local area and as Smith explains the best practice is often shared.

"We firmly believe as a Trust that we're constantly learning - there are some fantastic community departments across the country. We try to visit them when we can, we have visited Millwall and Colchester recently to see the work they're doing and their best practice.

"We look if they can be adapted and if they would work well in our local area, sometimes they aren't right for us."

The support from the manager Aidy Boothroyd, his staff and players is absolutely vital - and the draw and the glamour of a football club.

Players can often been seen darting out to community projects around Hertfordshire after training - that support is key.

"The players themselves are instrumental, I've got good friends at other clubs and I think its fair to say that the support we get from the players, manager and coaches is first class.

"I think that is crucial, I see situations on our projects where young people are literally hanging on the every word that a player says - it shows what an important role they have and that they can influence young people.

"It demonstrates that the players are accessible to the community and that they can make a positive contribution."

The Trust also acts an important initial scouting tool for the club. If the coaches see a youngster they think that has potential they inform the Academy and the matter is taken on. Supporters like nothing more than seeing one of their own out of the field and in theory, that long journey can start with the Trust. 

Smith commented: "It's important because it fits in with the club's goals of recruiting talented youngsters - we can do that, potentially we are a huge scouting network for the Academy.

"Its not a priority for us but I think its important to ensure there's pathways for young people - to help them on their way, we can take them so far but we recognise it comes to a point where they need to step on to the academy level and they'll have a trial from there."

The Hornets spread their community net widely and focus initially on Hertfordshire, in the districts of Watford, St Albans, Dacorum, Three Rivers and conversations are on-going with Hertsmere. Also due to the location of the club, projects are continuing in the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon and will hopefully grow in those areas.

Finally when the redevelopment work at Vicarage Road is complete the new East Stand will be a great facility for the Trust, so they can return the favour and welcome the community into the club at Watford.

Smith agrees and says: "We're really excited about the stadium, they are great plans. It again demonstrates the commitment by the football club.

"It would have been easy for the club to drive revenue through commercial outlets but the senior staff at Watford have shown their commitment, when its all finished I think plenty of other clubs will want to come and have a look.

"Not only can we go out there into the community but we can also bring them into the club. Currently on matchdays we have a large number of projects running but they are very much out there, when this is done we'll be able to bring them in to watch games and host them. There's a recipe for success and it's just a matter of bringing all of that together."

CLICK HERE FOR OUR REGULAR TRUST COURSES