YOUNG footballers are running out of space to play in Dorchester.

The chairman of Dorchester Town Youth Football Club Lloyd Spracklen said they may have to stop accepting youngsters after the owners of their current training base ended their lease.

The club has been training at the Territorial Army Barracks in Poundbury Road in the evenings for the last six years but Mr Spracklen says they have been told they are no longer wanted there.

He is now desperately looking for somewhere for youngsters to play in the evenings.

Mr Spracklen said the decision to end the contract at the TA Barracks came just a week after the club finished a project that saw floodlights upgraded, wiring replaced and goals painted at a cost of over £1,000.

He said the Wessex Reserve Force and Cadets Association, which runs the barracks, had cited complaints about parking problems, a small amount of damage to their property and leaving the main gate open.

Mr Spracklen said the footbal club had done all they could to address these issues but it proved to no avail.

He said: “We have done everything that they asked us to do – we have put the nets up, we have had stewards on the gates and even swept up the car park when the boys finished.

“But I think the problem is they don’t want football there and look at us as a bit of a pest.”

Mr Spracklen said the problem he now faced was trying to find floodlit facilities so the 500 youngsters and more than 30 teams involved with the club could train.

He said: “The problem we have got is everybody in our club, the coaches and everyone, are volunteers so we can only do out coaching in the evenings or on Saturday mornings.

“We need a floodlit area and the only other place is the Thomas Hardye Leisure Centre, which we could fill twice over to be honest.

“We have even got teams going down to Redlands in Weymouth.”

Mr Spracklen said the future would be difficult for the club if a new facility could not be found.

He said: “It will come to the point where we have to turn people away because we can’t grow any bigger and we are already at the limit in terms of the pitches we have in Dorchester.”

Dorchester town and district councillor David Barrett, who is also chairman of the town’s youth club, said a solution needed to be found for local youngsters.

He said: “The TA provided an ideal location for training purposes and when they have got to find somewhere else and possibly travel as far as Weymouth to do it that doesn’t encourage young people to play football.

“I am desperately hoping that the TA will reconsider the situation.”