Clasford Stirling MBE
Clasford Stirling is a legend in the competitive arena of north London grassroots football training academy’s and youth football. An ex tank driver, Clasford started dedicating his whole life to community development work and youth football, back in 1979, when he was first asked by a formidable black female activist, Dolly Kiffin, if he would come and help her to improve the community that they both lived in – the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, a call to which he actively responded and has been here ever since – committed, consistent and as dedicated today as he was 41 years ago, in fact, even more so! In 1981, after his initial community groundwork was more or less established, he turned his professional habits towards creating and developing Broadwater United Sports & Football Academy in order to encourage the young boys and girls of the estate and surrounding areas, to make the most of physical activity in their lives, by developing and practicing the fine skills of the great game called Football. Clasford has never looked back and has two glass cabinets full of trophies, that attests to his dedication and to the great success of his many youth teams. Clasford is widely respected and honoured, not only for his football development work but also for his qualities of leadership and compassion for his fellow citizens, no matter what colour or creed they are – you can be sure that he’ll be there is requested.
Jude Stirling
Jude is one of our Directors and Head Coach, whose background was as an exceptionally talented and skilful professional footballer who could play in all positions but excelled in mid-field. As well as becoming a key member of our under 18s England team, he went on to carve a successful career with Luton Town, Stevenage Borough, Boreham Wood, Oxford Utd, Lincoln City, Peterborough Utd, MK Dons, Barnet and Notts County. Jude is well known for his exceptional speed on the pitch, as well as his continuous professionalism and disciplined approach to football, which is really clear when you watch his magic come in to play when teaching all of our young players from U6’s all the way up to senior level.
Throughout his football career Jude always appreciated and remained loyal to Broadwater United – the grassroots football club run by his father, Clasford Stirling MBE, since 1979. Forced to retire prematurely due to injuries, Jude turned his formidable football talents to coaching (UEFA B qualified) the new up-and-coming young talents that show themselves during the training and matches of London Elite United, which he is now so dedicated to developing into one of the best teams in London and the country. Jude is key in taking forward our new initiative of girls and women’s football, which is becoming stronger every day through our London FA, Wildcats Centre designation as a club of excellence in this growing aspect of the great game. Jude is a much loved and trusted mentor to all the young people of all ages who walk through our door looking for a good level of training and discipline in football, basketball, badminton, table tennis and FIFA FA!
Terese Molyneaux
Terese is one of our Directors and works as our Office Manager, keeping the recording and monitoring aspects of our work, on track and up to scratch for our funders. This work is important so that they can see that their goals are being met, the provision is being provided as stated, the quality is exceptional and that our young people and their parents, are all happy with service that they are receiving and that they are getting great value for money!
Terese graduated with a BA in Social Work in 2014 and went on to really enjoy working with and supporting teenage parents by assessing their parenting and independent living skills so that they could keep their baby. Another dimension of her compassionate work was to assist female prison inmates integrate back into ordinary life when leaving their prison, by supporting them with important issues around housing, benefits and employment. Her maturity and insight in this field, qualifies and equips her to take the lead on our Women and
Girls education and self-development initiatives, which is such an important aspect of our work.
Nigel Norie
Nigel used to be chief photographer on the North London Weekly Herald group of newspapers and when the paper closed in 1983, Nigel was invited by Dolly Kiffin and Clasford Stirling, to come and help them to establish the Broadwater Farm Youth Association as a diverse organisation, open to all. After working voluntarily for a year, he was interviewed by Clasford, Dolly and Bernie Grant, who was the Leader of Haringey Council at the time, for the post of Senior Youth and Community Development Officer, employed by the Youth Association, which he got. This was the beginning of his commited work with the young people of the estate that has now lasted for some 38 years and looks set to continue well into the future. On the same day that he was interviewed for the job, there was another candidate applying to help run the girls section, an artist named Christina Jeronymides, who he eventually married and had three children with, Alex, Dan and Georgina. Nigel does some paperwork behind the scenes and can sometimes be spotted wandering out from his office, sporting a famous Canadian ‘Tilley’ hat.
MaYah Yadah
MaYah is our Womens & Girls head coach and coordinator, taking the lead on football and other sports coaching and training regimes for our highly successful girls teams. MaYah’s relationship with the team goes back many years from when she first used to volunteer with coaching the junior boys, after successfully passing her FA Level 1 and Level 2 exams, sponsored by us at the time. Look out for her at any of our venues, as she coaches, mentors and leads out brilliant girls.
Daniel Dobie
Starting out as a parent who wanted to lend a hand and get involved, I was encouraged by Jude from the start and so I’ve now been coaching with Jude at London Elite for the last 18 months. Jude helped me learn and understand the basic principles of coaching and working with young footballers and people within the youth football system. The attention to detail and the instruction provided by Jude has helped me find my feet within the club and I’ve found myself assisting and observing across the different age groups from U6’s up to U12’s. I’ve loved being able to get involved and work with a highly respected football club in my community and learn under highly qualified coaches – it has become a passion and a responsibility in helping young people and their parents, that I’ve enjoyed from the very start and look forward to continuing from here on in.
