Pitch problem leaves Northamptonshire village football club fighting for survival after 128 years

A 128-year old village football club is battling for survival as they struggle to find a new home.

Wootton St George nearly folded after being forced to pull out of the Northants Combination midway through last season, which was then halted by the Covid-19 crisis.

Efforts to get the club up and running again now rest on being able to find a pitch after discovering the village recreation ground they used to play on is fully booked.

St George play on Saturdays when the pitch will be unused. But parish councillors want to limit the number of games to save it from damage during bad weather and bookings have been taken up by a local Sunday League side.

Club manager Steve Heavey said: "There's a shortage of pitches for clubs like ours to play on. It seems astonishing that there's one in our own village, yet we can't play on it.

"The club was formed in 1892. We've always played on the Rec, a lot of the older folk in the village used to play for the club and still come out to watch us — they were upset when we had to pull out last season

"We won Division One in 2018 then finished fourth in the Premier Division. I was manager, secretary, treasurer and chairman then I stepped down as manager and still did everything else but no one was that keen on managing the side, then players started to leave.

"We got to October before we made the painful decision to stop but we said we would try to come back stronger next season.

"The club still existed and over the last few months we've worked hard to get more people working behind the scenes so we were looking forward to playing again.

"We even kept our goal nets and corner flags at the ground, other teams used them whenever they wanted. They're still there as far as I know.

"I can understand they want to keep the pitch in good condition, but having fought so hard to keep the club going we're all a bit gutted."

Wootton Parish Council chair, Noel Lodge, said: "We were approached by another club who needed a pitch. Ours was available so we said yes.

"As far as we knew, St George wasn't even in existence at that point. We had no contact from them after they apparently folded and they hadn't responded to any of our attempts to get in touch.

"The problem with the pitch is that we can only allow a certain number of games on it each season. It doesn't drain well and if it gets over-used then there's some rain, it could be shut down for weeks or even months.

"Obviously we are sympathetic to St George and their situation. But the decision was made some time ago and we believe in the integrity of that decision."