THE future of Second Division side Chippenham Police is in doubt and their
days in the league could be numbered unless they can find an alternative
venue to play their home matches.
The police side, who have been playing in the league for over 20 years, have
a fine pitch and excellent facilities at the Wiltshire police headquarters
in Devizes, but they have just found out that some of the land containing
the football pitch and tennis courts is being sold.
The land directly behind the police headquarters is being developed into a
housing estate and the sport's field has been sold so that a road can be
built upon it to provide access to the new homes.
This decision to sell off the land means that Chippenham Police will have
nowhere to play their home games and unless they can find an alternative
venue they may be forced to fold.
The police have just one home fixture left to play this season, but with
work on the project beginning imminently, they hope that they can get it
played before the bulldozers move in.
Chippenham Police are the only surviving Sunday League police team in the
county after the demise of teams from Salisbury and Swindon in recent years.
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The team is now made up of police and civilian staff from around Wiltshire,
some of whom have been with the club for many years.
In their time in the league their only major honour came in the 1990-91
season when the finished as runners-up in Division Two. They reached the
Subsidiary Cup final in 1994 when they lost a thrilling match against
Trowbridge Town Colts by 5-3.
Adam Davey, club secretary of Chippenham Police, said his team has found it
increasingly difficult to stay in the league, with injuries and work
commitments increasing over the last few seasons.
Because of that they have widened their recruiting net and now have several
civilian players with no police connections. It is almost inevitable that
they will use a non-police team name next season as they are forced away
from police premises.
Fitness and leisure was always seen as an important part of police life when
Davey joined the force in 1987, but gradually these facilities have been
eroded, with the closure of all police social clubs (except police
headquarters), the loss of the cricket pitch a few years ago, and now the
loss of the football and tennis facilities.
Davey started playing for the team in 1988 and now runs the side as manager,
secretary and treasurer. He puts a lot of time and effort into running the
team because he thinks it's important to see the police participating in
social and sporting events within the community and he has always enjoyed
his football.
The police are now actively looking for a new home ground for next season,
but with pitches at a premium, one might be hard to find and if they fail to
come up with one they will be forced to withdraw from the league.
There are not that many pitches in the Devizes area and with plans to turn
Green Lane into a home for Devizes Town there could be more teams from the
Kennet area looking for new homes in the future.
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