“The BSGCA, through its chairman, and with the rest of the sports clubs in the BSGCA seemingly falling into line, continue to make the case that Berkhamsted FC should agree to a relocation to Bourne End. This group of people have never given us any indication of how the football club would be better off as a result of such a move.

They seem to think having a brand new stadium is all it takes for a football club to succeed. They talk of a ‘sports hub’ that will be run by ‘a charitable trust’- but let me tell you running a non league football club is unique: it’s not just about participation and numbers, it’s about being part of the local community, belonging to the public, and keeping the club running both for future generations to come and for those who’ve given their lives before us.

My aim when I became chairman of the club was to connect with the people of Berkhamsted, as I have with other things I have done, and to run the football club facilities for the people of our town, carrying on the good work of the people who came before me. I have been involved with families coming into our town, celebrating christenings through watching their kids growing up, to teenage discos, to weddings, and 60th, 70th and 80th birthday celebrations and finally seeing friends pass away and holding their wakes because they’d asked for that to happen at the club – these are pretty special memories, believe me.

The number of footballers that come through our club and the families and spectators that come with them runs into hundreds of thousands and we’re still improving as a club. Everything is run entirely by volunteers. For the volunteers that have put so much free time in, for the players right from U14 all the way to the first team, and to the fans and those hundreds of local residents who’ve signed our petitions because they like having the club in the middle of our town, we owe it to you to say the BSGCA, this body that is trying to move us out of Berkhamsted, please think again – we will do everything in our power to stay at Broadwater”.

Steve Davis – Chairman, Berkhamsted FC