Crystal Palace's End of Season Awards evening 2018/19

Updated: Aug 4, 2023

Hi everyone

Hope your all well

On 30th April 2019 (today as I am writing this) I attended the annual Crystal Palace awards evening, we was also celebrating that we had guaranteed premier league football for next season for the 7th consecutive season. The evening was very well organised and all the staff made sure I was comfortable and safe, there was a separate area for the disabled so we didn’t have to sit in the crowd. The event started at 4 but I didnt arrive until 4.30-5 because I had an appointment before. When we arrived at Boxpark Croydon where the event was held we went to our space which was right in front of the stage. There was a shop which we went in so my mum could buy herself a Palace shirt. The entertainment didn’t start until around 5.30pm but the DJ kept everyone amused with his mixes. The Crystals who are palaces official cheerleaders were the first to come out and perform one of their routines. Then a football freestyler came out to perform and teach some kids some skills. There was a few competitions for kids and also adults who were tested on their Crystal Palace knowledge. The players arrived and the manor who are a local band performed before the main event of the awards began. The awards started and the first one was Goal of the season and the winner was Andros Townsends goal against Manchester City, it was an absolute banger of a goal and he definitely deserved the award, after every award was announced the player came onto the stage to collect it and talk a bit about it. The next award was the under 18’s player of the year, which was awarded to Malachi Boateng. The third award was for the under 23’s Player of the season, the winner was Kian Flanagan. Hopefully both of these Palace rising stars have the opportunity like Wan-Bissaka and Zaha, to come up through the academy ranks and end up as first team players. The next award was the Ladies Player of the season it was awarded to Ashlee Hincks. The next 2 awards were for the PFA community champion award, the winners for these awards were Aaron Wan-Bissaka & Ciara Watling these 2 players have done a lot to help in the community and taken time out of their free time to do so, they definitely deserved the awards and recognition. The following award was for the chairman’s award for outstanding contribution, this was awarded to Julian Speroni by Steve Parish to recognise the work Speroni has put in, in the 15 years he has been at Palace, he has not only helped on the pitch but also in the community and he will be forever known as a legend at Palace. The final 2 awards were for Player of the season voted for by the Palaces fans and Players Player of the season, they were both presented to the same person and he definitely deserved them both, after an amazing season he had the award was presented to Aaron Wan-Bissaka collecting a total of 3 awards on the evening, being a 21 year old who has came through the Palace academy he has made an amazing impact on the team and I hope he continues to next season. Last season Aaron won the Young Player of the year so to win the Player of the season this year must be a huge achievement for him and his family, the hard work has paid off.

Once all the awards were done there was a meet and greet for the fans with the players. I was able to see many players from both the men’s and women’s teams which included Wilf Zaha, Cheikhou Kouyaté, Conor Wickham, Vicente Guaita, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Martin Kelly, Julián Speroni, Wayne Hennessey, Bakary Sako, Jaïro Riedewald, Mamadou Sakho, Patrick Van-Annholt and Christian Benteke. As we was walking to the car we saw Luka Milivojevic and Wilf Zaha driving out and we managed to get a wave from them.