A DISPUTE has emerged between Shipston Excelsior Football club and Shipston Cricket Club after a local farmer reclaimed his land that the football club were using as one of their pitches.Because Max Stevens is not letting the Excelsior Juniors play on his land, the football club have applied to use the outfield of the cricket pitch. They have fifteen football teams and now only one pitch available for next season. But Chairman of the Cricket Club, Roger Wickson told the Herald: “You might as well say goodbye to the cricket, that is 160 years of history down the drain.”
The Cricket Club are firmly against the idea, however the decision lies with Shipston Sports and Social Club, who manage the property on London Road. “It is not really in our hands,” said Mr Wickson. After the footballers applied to use the outfield for their second pitch, the cricketers wrote formally to the sports and social club expressing their objections.
“They have sort of assumed they can use the outfield of our cricket field. You have only got to look at Shipston’s football pitch to realise that it would ruin our pitch, It is something we have been against for years.”
Chairman of the football club, Steve Edwards, said: “The reality is that it is public land, it is public land owned by the council but managed by the sports and social club.”
Mr Edwards recognised that the cricket club viewed their pitch as sacrosanct, but he said they were not asking to use the square, just the outfield, a situation he argued was commonplace in many other towns and villages. He said: “The reality is that the football club put a lot of money into the Sports and Social club, and actually it’s a bit more than the cricket club put in.
“I cannot see that they have got any other option but to say yes,” he added. When asked why the football club could not play their games elsewhere, Mr Edwards said: “Our other options are to effectively use the town but then we would basically break up the football club, which we don't want to to. We want to stay together as a club.”
There is a Shipston Sports and Social Club AGM on Monday, when new directors will be appointed. Mr Edwards does not think the decision on the football club’s application will be made for a month or two.
But he needs to know their decision before the start of the season because a club with 15 teams cannot function with just one pitch.
There was some initial backlash in the town to Mr Stevens, the farmer, and his decision to reclaim his land which has been the second football pitch used by the junior football teams.
But Mr Edwards said: “He has let us have the field for 10 to 12 years, let us use it for nothing, he has never charges us a penny for it. The long and short of it is that Max needed the field back. While it is the major problem for the club, I have got nothing but praise for him for letting us have it before.”
![triathlonschool]](/images/triathlonschool].jpg)
A SCIENCE teacher who has battled back from major surgery to take on a triathlon this weekend, will have the whole of Shipston behind her when she hits the road. 
A WIDOW who lost her husband to a brain tumour in March last year is taking part in a triathlon in his memory. .jpg)
With the recent move to the brand new Town Council offices, the Town Council now have a new address. They no longer use fax. The Town Council contact details are now as follows:
April 2012 Minutes