It is no secret that grassroots organisations are integral parts of any community, providing support, guidance and sounding boards, with Paget Community Football Club tasked with carrying out such duties in the Ord Road and surrounding Warwick/Paget area.

The senior football squad, fondly referred to as Paget Lions, are critical to the institution’s success and their promotion to the Premier Division has offered an enhanced platform to benefit the people of the community.

Club vice-president, Kian Butterfield, a product of the success story is determined to see nothing less than continued advancement.

“It’s a great feeling for Paget to have been promoted to the Premier Division from the First Division,” said Butterfield, who has represented not only his community but also his country.

“Last year we, I don’t want to say exceeded expectations, but we did win the Shield and the First Division, and we competed well in the FA Cup.

“So, for the community as a whole, which has had some hardships and suffering, Paget Community Football Club has brought everything together in giving us something to be thoughtful and prideful about as a community.

“For me it's about giving back. I’ve played both cricket and football, where I’ve been part of the national programme in both sports.

“Somebody was there for me when I was coming up through the ranks, so for me it’s about providing that same support, ensuring that we have people around that can help these players at a sporting level and with regard to life in general to succeed.

“There’s more to it than just sports. A community club can help young men and women with whatever in the community, and that's all part of it as well.”

Senior player-coach Antwan Russell also wants to replicate the individual success he has had and share lessons learned with the younger, less experienced community members.

Early returns since Russell’s appointment have been rich, although only time will reveal the long-term sustainability and overall impact of his tenure. This season the club progressed to the quarter-finals of the Dudley Eve Trophy and are unbeaten in the Premier Division after wins against Young Men’s Social Club and Dandy Town.

“It was a great achievement for Paget to have been promoted to the Premier Division,” said Russell, who played much of his junior football at Paget.

“It was easy for me to move back in with Paget. Everywhere I go all of the members of the community that I come across are excited, from what I can see.

“It means the world to them and you can see how much it has affected people, it's exciting for them to be able to sit back and watch and it’s amazing and a good feeling to be able to sit back and watch it unfurl.”

“We’re not here just to survive, we’re here to compete for whatever is available. We are just going to go game by game and rise to the highest place that we can.

“Some may see us in that position as a small club, but I don’t see us here just trying to survive.

“Our success means the world to them and you can see how much it has affected people.”

Butterfield is not concerned about their defeat to Hamilton Parish in the Dudley Eve Trophy quarter-finals, with the competition used as a means of finding cohesion in the group.

“We were taking the Dudley Eve as warm-up matches,” Butterfield said “That’s not to say that we were not competing for the title, but we were just taking this as a means of hashing out the team and the coach is doing a great job on that in working at the sorting and positioning of players, and we’ve done well to compete.

“The initial reaction is that the community is happy and, in fact, the football team and executive is proud and seeing that the football team is committed to training and trying to succeed as a team.”

This year has allowed Paget to further develop its programmes, formulating a trio of youth teams, with Butterfield grateful for the assistance of senior players Dion Stovell, McQuille Burch and members of the executive as well as everyday supporters.

“This year we will three junior teams in the BFA sponsored programme,” added Butterfield.

“We have teams in the under-7, under-9 and under-11 divisions coming in under Paget Community Football Club, which I think is good because that allows for sustainability. The lifeblood of any programme starts in the junior divisions, with players coming through the ranks and supplying your senior team.”

As to what motivates and drives both Butterfield and Russell in their quest to ensure the organisation’s continuance, they are sons of the Ord Road community with a burning desire to return what was granted to them as a youth.

“Obviously, we’re looking for a facility that would give us not necessarily a club but somewhere that provides proper changing facilities and that might act as a more permanent base of operations,” said Butterfield, 38, who is a professional within the international business sector with a specialisation in information technology as well as an executive member at nearby Warwick Workman’s Club and secretary of Western Counties Cricket Association.

“Right now we train at Paget Primary’s top field. Not a lot of people know about it, but if you are familiar with Paget you would know where the top field is.

“At the moment we have a good relationship with Paget Primary, so they allow us to have some of our meetings at the school and hold our pot-lucks, which help us to generate some funds.

“As we don’t have a venue of our own we use the gates and pot-lucks as well as sponsorships with Athene Life Re, Ord Road Laundry, MB Trucking and NT Transport to help generate funds for the club.

“It’s not just myself, we have a team that is responsible for generating funds and support, including president Jaime Ramsey and Don Ramsay as technical director and secretary Diesha Tucker, who are invested to ensure the effective operation of the club.”

With such a foundation in place the Lions appear prepared to roar for seasons to come.