Ten years ago Cwmamman United’s junior section had 15 players. Today it has 162.
The club now runs football teams from under-5s up to under-15s, and its newest recruits are about to start their first season in a kit that hasn’t cost the club a penny.
The blue shirts, in club colours and with the club badge, have come from a giveaway run by Octopus Energy for children’s grassroots teams.
Coach Ashley Chapman said the kit had made the youngsters “feel like a proper football family ahead of their very first season”.
“Stepping onto the pitch together in matching gear has given the squad tremendous pride and confidence,” Chapman said.
One of the players, Tommy, gave his own verdict: “I really like the Octopus kit, it’s so cool! My kit makes me feel like a proper footballer.”
He added: “I can’t wait to play matches and be like Ronaldo.”
How Cwmamman United’s juniors grew tenfold
The club says the growth is the result of years of work by its volunteers, and that the junior section is still getting bigger every season.
The club was formed in 1976 and plays at Grenig Park in Glanamman.
There has been silverware as well as numbers. The under-15s won the West Glamorgan League championship in 2025, a year after the same group took the under-14s title.
Kit is one of the biggest costs for any junior side, and new age groups need a full set of shirts, shorts and socks before they can play a match.
The Octopus Kits for Kids giveaway
Teams were nominated by customers on the energy firm’s rewards scheme and chosen by prize draw.
Each winning team gets a set of 11 kits, according to the company.
Octopus says it set out to kit out 500 children’s teams when the scheme began. It says demand was so high that it took on more than five times that many in its first season.
Now in its third season, the company says the giveaway has supplied more than 50,000 kits to over 4,500 grassroots teams across Britain.
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, the company’s chief marketing officer, said grassroots football was “where so many footballing dreams begin”.
“Here’s to more great matches, muddy boots and future stars,” she said.
Clubs hoping to follow suit will have to wait. Octopus says applications for the 2026-27 season have now closed.
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