Pitches needed to save youth football

ALMOST every Fort FC youth football match since last summer has been played away from the town due to the severe lack of outdoor facilities.

That’s the staggering stat that the Highland League club’s manager Danny Conlon told the LN following Tuesday night’s meeting to address the issues facing youth teams and now he is sounding the warning that youth football in the region is completely under threat unless action is taken soon to provide an outdoor pitch.

Conlon, who chaired the meeting, said: "Some of the details that the youth coaches told us was quite alarming, but mainly that around 95 per cent of the games played by our under-10s, under-12s, under-13s and under-17s had to be played away from Fort William.

"I am not trying to confront anyone on this issue – all I want to do is let people know that these are the facts and something must be done. We can’t sustain things as they are for any great length of time."

He added: "Tuesday’s meeting was mainly one for office bearers and coaches for us to discuss the way forward in terms of our youth development.

"That places a heavy burden on the club and everyone involved, not just in terms of the financial outlay, but the time factor of always having to travel away to play games.

"I think many people don’t realise just how serious an issue this is. Our youngsters can usually train indoors locally, although those facilities are not great, at least they can do that. However, there is the urgent need for a suitable outdoor pitch because that’s where the games have to be played. I know the Lochaber Sports Association is doing all it can to raise funding and it’s clear we need to raise awareness further.

"In last year’s summer welfare league for example, they had to play many of their matches at Kinlochleven at that’s a major concern."

A number of the club’s first-team over the years have come through from youth level, including captain Andy Martin, Michael Gillespie, Lewis Corbett and Lewis Campbell.

This has allowed Fort to continue to battle it out at Highland League level.

Conlon added: "Virtually all the local players in our first-team squad have come through the youth system. The perfect example is Andy Martin, one of our older players now at 25. He worked his way through from under-13 level. That shows how important it is to have these teams in place and local outdoor facilties are so vital to that."

Meanwhile, back at first-team level, Conlon is working around the clock to attract new footballing talent to Claggan Park.

The manager of the Highland League club confirmed that he will be without several key players for this weekend’s home fixture against Turriff United.

Captain Andy Martin and Iain MacLellan are out injured, Danny MacKintosh is a doubt, Sean Grant and Lewis Corbett are working, while two 18-year-olds, Logan Barker and Farquhar MacRae, are hanging up their boots.

Barker, who has featured regularly in the first-team this season, is taking a break from the game, while MacRae is turning his attention to Thai boxing.

This leaves Conlon working hard to try and bolster his squad following last Saturday’s postponement due to frost and ice in Banff for their game against Deveronvale.