What would Liverpool be like without Anfield or Manchester without Old Trafford?

Football means so much to a town - it brings the community together, provides enjoyment, evokes emotion and lots more.

Maidstone United Football Club are well established in the non-league football pyramid.

The population and immediate catchment area of Maidstone (approximately 140,000 at the latest census in 2001) is significant and the football club is an important focal point for the community, with potential to increase still further in importance.

The Maidstone community need is a vital ingredient of the current Maidstone United philosophy. If you include the semi-professional first team operation as well as the youth and community section of the club, we have 30 separate teams for the 2008/09 season – ranging from seven to 18 year olds, including girls’ teams and teams for the disabled, as well as the hearing impaired. The latter is recognised by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) as the first of its kind in Kent.

This youth and community section also includes the reserve team, Sunday Seniors, a Futsal section and a veterans squad. This extensive club structure provides seamless migration for promising youngsters through all facets of local and regional football up to the first team and beyond.

The semi-professional section of the club has enjoyed a successful climb up the non-league pyramid since its reformation in 1992. Two successive promotions have pushed the club into the Ryman Premier Division.

The club have no real home. However, we continue to enjoy an increase in season on season attendances and above average levels of support (average home gate in season 2007/2008 was 444) against other teams at the same level. This is despite the inconvenience of being obliged to play in a “rented” shared facility in Sittingbourne, some 14 miles away from Maidstone.

The youth and community sections are also scattered far and wide around the borough with some teams playing “home” matches in Larkfield, Lordswood, Headcorn, Sittingbourne and even Sevenoaks.

This is purely due to a lack of suitable facilities in and around Maidstone.

More than a generation have missed out on seeing their home team in its home town. It's time for Maidstone to come together and achieve the dream to bring the Stones home.