As the football season ends, so a new one begins for Wymondham Town Council (WTC).

For the purposes of this article, WTC becomes “Team Wymondham” - the organisation which oversees the social and economic wellbeing of the Parish of Wymondham.

14 citizens, all supposedly with Team Wymondham’s interests at heart, will step onto the pitch (Town Council offices) at Kett’s Park at 7pm on Tuesday 16 May, for their first game of the season. It will also be when the Team Captain (Mayor) will be selected.

They will face all kinds of challenges, many of which will be outside their direct control, on behalf of us, the Council Tax-paying season ticket holders.

How well our community representatives perform will be dependent on their ability to work as a team, regardless of any other off the field allegiances they may have or the colour of the shirt they wear.

If Team Wymondham has team colours at all, perhaps it should be a combination of Red and Black. This will reflect the need to stay out of the Red and keep in the Black, when managing the six figure budget, gifted to them by the spectators in the stand.

Every team has its stars but Team Wymondham will need to be aware of the nervousness of the newcomers, who are equally keen to perform to the best of their ability.

Regional and/or national agendas have to be left at the door and for those who have the privilege of wearing more than one hat, it’s important for them to remember which one they are wearing at any given time.

On first Tuesday home matches, it can only be the one marked “Team Wymondham”.

Recognising the individual skills and talents of the new squad is logical, so hopefully we’ll see this reflected in the makeup of the Team Sub-Committees, with the goalkeeper having equal status to the goal scorers.

The new Team Wymondham has an opportunity to be proactive in the community, by building alliances with local businesses and by making it’s supporter-financed resources available for wider community use.

As loyal supporters, our role is to check out the Team Wymondham (Neighbourhood) Plan and to show our interest in the outcome by watching all of the matches, either in person or online.

Tony Vale is a non-political resident of Wymondham