EAST DEVON ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

- PROPOSED NEW ORGANISATION.

OFFICIAL SANCTION.

Those interested in the success of Association football in the Exeter or Eastern Division of the county will be gratified to learn that the English Association have now given its official sanction to the formation of an Association for the management of the affairs of the game in this part of the county. The Devon County organisation has almost wholly confined its attention to the Plymouth District, and has neg- lected the other other portions of the county to such an extent that the claims of the East Devon District have been practically ignored. Of late years Association football has taken an extraordinary hold upon the younger zeneration in this district, with the result that it is not unusual for between 20 and 30 Association teams to be engaged in Exeter alone on a Saturday afternoon. It is is therefore essential for the success of Soccer in the neighbourhood that there should be an organisation to encourage these Clubs, to create greater interest in the code, to pro- mote Cup and League competitions, and to put the game on a properly organised basis. The principal Clubs in the district had for some years been agitating for better treatment at the hands of the County Association . This improvement was not forth-coming, and the only alternative was to endeavour to secure a separate organisation. Mr. P. J. Harvey, a member of the Committee of the Exeter United Club, has been most assiduous in his efforts to bring about the desired result. He has spared no pains of expense, and in deserving of the very best thanks of all the Clubs in the district. In connexion with the new Association he has had interviews with Lord Kinnaird, the resident of the English Association, and Mr. Wall, the secretary, who have sympathised with the East Devon Clubs in the position in which they have been placed. The County Association have opposed the application for separate organisation, but although beaten they are now ready and willing to facilitate the successful working of the new Association. East Devon will include Paignton, Torquay, Newton, Dartmouth, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Exeter, Exmouth, Crediton, Tiverton, and Okehampton. It is necessary that a meeting should be called as soon as possible of representatives of all Clubs in the district with the object of adopting rules, electing officers, and of properly floating the new organisation, which will undoubtedly be of great benefit to Association football in the area over which it will operate. Mr. Harvey, of the St. Sidwell's Gymnasium, would be glad to receive the names and addresses of the Secretaries of every Club in the Division, so that he can issue to them notice of the meeting referred to. All that is now required is for all the Clubs to loyally co-operate in support of the new organisation. If this is done there is no reason why the district should not become an important centre of amateur Association Football
Western Times 21/03/1903