History

LEA SPORTS PSG

* PIRTON * SHILLINGTON * GRAVENHURST *

Established 1973

The Recreation Ground, Pirton, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 3PX

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Lea Sports Football Club was formed in Luton in 1973 by Junior School teachers (hence the LEA in the name: Local Education Authority). In those days a new influx of teachers could be expected in the town each year and each season saw new blood don the black and yellow stripes of Lea Sports. Despite this, the team occupied nothing more than a modest position in Division 4 of the North Home Counties Sunday Football League. As more players joined, second and third teams were created - the Reserves joined the League Division 7 and the Thirds played friendlies against local Round Tables and the like, until joining the South Beds Sunday League in 1988-89.

The 1992-93 season saw an amalgamation with Stopsley Boys Club, which took the Club from four to eight teams and introduced Youth football to Lea Sports. A successful netball team was also in operation which won the Division 2 and Division 1 Championships of the Luton & Dunstable Netball Alliance in successive seasons. A Ladies football team operated in 1994-95, travelling to such far-flung outposts of football as Clacton and Gorleston on the Norfolk coast. The Ladies' only claim to fame was a friendly against Sheffield Wednesday (which we lost 16-0!).

That season the Club played a total of 233 matches, winning 139 and losing 69. The Reserves won the Division 5 Championship and reached the Final of the Bedfordshire Centenary Cup, losing on sudden-death penalties to the Rising Sun from Potton.

In 1995 the Club took the decision to move to Pirton, which offered better playing surfaces and facilities. As was feared, the move out of Luton led to a reduction in the number of players available and the number of adult teams shrunk back to two. Much greater emphasis has now been placed on developing youth football for the children of the village and surrounding areas.

In 2006, the Club achieved F.A.Charter Standard status and has ambitious plans for further development of youth football and the facilities available in the village. Charter Development Status was achieved in 2009.

In 2008 a merger took place between Lea Sports Pirton FC and Shillington & Gravenhurst Utd FC (hence the new name of 'Lea Sports PSG') which extended the youth section even further. The Club now offers coaching for children from the age of five and organised teams from Under 7s upwards. Two new adult sides, playing on Saturdays in the Bedfordshire County League, were established in the 2010-11 season.

Regular coaching sessions for children as young as four take place every Saturday morning throughout the year at the Recreation Ground in Pirton.

This site was last updated 8th September 2010