TEAM GRYPHON FC OFFICIAL HISTORY - Season 2006/07

The Football Club was established in the summer of 2006 for the customers and staff of the Gryphon Leisure Centre and the pupils and its staff of the Gryphon School, in Sherborne, Dorset, as the leisure centre joined forces with the school to create a 'partnership club' working together to form what is now the award winning Team Gryphon Football Club!

It all started as part of the Gryphon Leisure Centre Service Plan, an action point was required to increase the use of the centre by 16-18 year olds. It was decided that by building on the success of the centres five-a-side league, the idea of an 11-a-side team might be the way forward. After initial thoughts and ideas it was decided that a football team would be created and this club would be called Team Gryphon Football Club (TGFC) after the centres five-a-side team. With this agreed application to the Blackmore Vale Football League (BVFL) and Dorset County Football Association (DCFA) were processed. By the June saw TGFC accepted into the BVFL, and Division One status awarded at their AGM, and DCFA awarded the club Junior Club status and the club held trials that on average 20 players a night attended during the pre-season months.

A two-year sponsorship deal with a trophy and engraving shop in Yeovil, A Touch of Glass was agreed, with RAM Sports of Wincanton becoming the playing kit and apparel suppliers for the duration of the deal. A coaching partnership with the Pass and Move Football Academy (PAMFA), of Sherborne was also put into place, and training was confirmed for a Tuesday nights. The first official TGFC fixture was on the 20th August 2006, which resulted in TGFC beating the Rusty Axe of Kingsbury Episcopi 6-3, with Matt Wisdom scoring the first ever TGFC goal. The first BVFL League, Division One fixture was on 2nd September that saw TGFC lose 4-2 to Palace Court of Marnhull; the first league win came a week later with TGFC beating Bruton Town 5-0. Another first was in the Dorset Sunday Junior Cup fixture losing 2-1 away at Weymouth vs. Clean Connections Utd of the Weymouth Sunday League.

In February after a lot of hard work the club were awarded the FA Charter Standard for Adult Clubs by DCFA and the Football Association, the first club in the BVFL to do so, a fantastic achievement in our first season as a club.

Mark Brewer and Mark Clements were picked and played the full 90 minutes for the Blackmore Vale Football League; Pick of the League team against the Yeovil & District League in the Charles Goddard Cup in April 2007, the game was played at Sherborne Town’s Raleigh Grove Ground.

TGFC finished 2006/07 ended with us helping the leisure centre raise money for a local charity by playing in the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Charity Cup, sponsored by VT Training, and drawing 3-3 with a local radio station Ivel FM rounded of the season.