Football club secures home for another 60 years

A football club has said it is aiming to play a bigger role in the local community, after it secured a new 60 year lease for its home ground.

Abingdon United recently signed a new deal with Vale of White Horse District Council to seal its future at its Northcourt Road ground until 2086.

The club said the agreement would increase its eligibility for grants for ground improvements - which in turn would make it more widely available to the community.

Stefan Caira, Abingdon United's vice-chairman, said the deal was "absolutely massive", following four years of negotiations.

"When I first came here, we were talking about needing to get a new lease to secure the future of the football club," he explained.

"We are now there and have basically secured a home for youth and adult football now until 2086."

Abingdon United currently has 14 teams, from under-sevens all the way up to its men's first team - all of which play their home fixtures at Northcourt Road.

Caira explained that the club "operate on a volunteer basis - we're not backed in any massive way, so we are very community driven".

He said it was the volunteers that "really are the centre" of the football club, and "help it keep driving forward".

Following the lease agreement, Caira said the club would now be able to apply for more funding from the Football Association and other organisations for ground renovations, such as installing a 4G pitch.

He said this would then allow the club to increase the amount of youth, women's and disability teams that can use the facility.

"That'd be absolutely massive for the town - it gives everyone an outlet, especially with the way the women's football is accelerating, and disability football as well," he said.

"We can't actually have everything on the pitch, but with that [4G pitch] we'll be able to draw more people in and would end up becoming like a seven day organisation."

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