The dream of creating Princetown Football Club becomes a reality

Dartmoor prison

Following extensive support from Sported, Active Villages and West Devon Borough Council, Warren Homden's dream of developing a football team in Princetown has become a reality.

On Monday 4th July, the Fox Tor Café in Princetown hosted a community consultation evening, compared by Sported's South West Regional Manager Julian Wills. The event introduced the concept of developing a football team for the town. With over twenty enthusiastic and committed members of the community and with the backing of numerous other town members, the Princetown Football Club was formed.

Princetown FC will start playing in the Plymouth and District league in September 2011, and the newly formed committee made up of volunteers from the town will work together with Sported volunteer mentor Mike Carpenter and Tavistock Football Development Officer Neil Jordain to ensure all the clubs policies and procedures are in place. The Active Villages project will be supporting the new club with the purchase of equipment, facilities for training and development of the club volunteers as trained coaches.

Currently there is no playing facility in Princetown for the club to play fixtures on, and their first season in the league will see them playing all their home matches at a venue outside of the town. However, plans are underway to secure the required funding to develop a suitably drained pitch in the town for Princetown FC.

The volunteers at the club are also keen to help develop junior football opportunities in the town and will be looking to provide training for youngsters in the near future.

Julian Wills, Sported Regional Manager South West said "This is a fantastic project, which will bring footballing opportunities to a rurally isolated community that currently have none. The first stage of the project is complete, but there is a long way to go to get a playing facility in Princetown. The enthusiasm shown by the community to make this project happen is amazing, and they should be really proud of what they have achieved so far. I believe we will see Princetown FC playing their home matches in Princetown in the future."