Pitch & Facilities at Villa F.C.

For the first twenty five years of the club’s existence, the club had no permanent home.

In 1978, the club leased the ground on which we now play from the Junior League. When the ground was taken over, it was nothing more than a dumping ground - see below.
  The committee at that time, had to clear the area, plant the pitch and ensure proper drainage. Practically all of this work was completed by dedicated club members, whose contribution at that time should never be under-estimated.
By 1980, those same members, had constructed the original dressing-rooms.
     
  In 1984 the grounds were named “Connors Park” in memory of the late Eugene Connors, who served the club as player, coach and secretary prior to his tragic death in 1983.
     

In the mid-nineties, times were changing fast, with players demanding better facilities for training and with the original dressing rooms starting to look their age. It was time again to develop. In 1996, the club embarked on an ambitious development plan, which was given the title “VILLA 2000”. This plan aimed to fill a large area of land around the playing pitch, lay an all-weather training area, lay a grass training area behind the pitch, erect security fencing around the entire perimeter of the grounds and finally, build a new dressing room complex. Work commenced in the summer of 1996 with the filling of the land around the pitch. 9,000 sq metres of land was filled over a nine week period. This was followed in 1997 by the laying of the all-weather training area and the grass training area. 1999 saw the erection of the Security fencing. In 2001, following a detailed review of similar facilities and a successful application for Lottery Funding, work commenced on the dressing-room complex.

 
 

The clubhouse contains four dressing-rooms, referees room with full shower facilities and a multi-purpose room which is available as a recreation area for players. The clubhouse was officially opened by Mayor Oliver Clery on 17th May, 2003 as the club celebrated its 50th anniversary year.

The clubhouse was named after Frank O’Byrne in honour of his lifelong service to the club.

     
  Pictured at the official opening of the dressing rooms are Liam Connors, Mayor of Wateford Cllr Olliver Cleary, John Delaney FAI.

The next phase of our facility development saw the construction of a floodlit Astroturf pitch which is 69 x 35m in dimension. This pitch can be divided into three 5-a-side pitches and has proved to be a major hit with all our teams and the local community that rent it for 5 or 7-a-side games.

We are committed to further development of Connors Park and plans are afoot for the construction of an extension to our clubhouse that will contain a gymnasium, the development of a further floodlit Astroturf training area and the erection of floodlights for our main pitch. It is hoped that these developments will take place during 2007 & 2008.