Shurdington Rovers are determined to make the most of the opportunity they have been given to rub shoulders with the big boys in the Cheltenham Football League this season.

A restructuring of the league in the summer has seen them catapulted into Division One despite a mixed campaign last time out.

They ended the 2016/17 season in sixth place in Division Two having won nine and lost 12 of their 22 games.

It’s a big jump for the club but not one that is concerning manager Dan Pardoe.

“It’s a massive opportunity,” he said. “We’ve brought in some good players and everyone is really positive. It’s the toughest division in the league because only one team gets out of it. It’s going to be massively competitive but we want to do well.”

Pardoe’s optimism is based in part on the new players who have come to the club.

Three of them are from Dowty Dynamos, who finished runners-up in Division Two last season. All three – Tom Jefferies, Mike Aiken and Adam Ryman – are midfielders although Ryman won’t be available until early November because he has work commitments in Ibiza.

James Hathaway has also rejoined the club although he hasn’t played for a couple of years after having an ankle pinned. He used to be a centre-half but is also “a very good keeper” which is where Pardoe will use him this season.

The 39-year-old Pardoe is totally focused on the management side of things these days after injuring a knee 18 months ago. He made his name as a goalscoring centre-forward with Shurdington and Warden Hill alongside his brothers Duncan and Darren.

Darren, 48, is preparing for his 32nd campaign in men’s football, although this season he will be playing for Shurdington’s veterans’ team in the Gloucestershire Veterans’ League.

Much to the delight of player/chairman Simon Joslyn, Shurdington won the Gloucestershire Veterans’ League North Division One title last season.

Contrary to the general decline in men’s football, the veterans’ league has grown in popularity over the last few years and teams have found themselves up against ex-pros Lee Hendrie, Darren Byefield, Lee Carsley and Julian Joachim in recent seasons.

This year Shurdington will enter a second team in the competition “just so I can get a game,” Joslyn laughed.

“We’ve built a strong squad of experienced players and are the first club in the league to be able to field two teams,” added 51-year-old Joslyn, a ball-winning midfielder who has been club chairman for 10 years and involved with Shurdington since 1997.

“Keith Knight (ex-Cheltenham Town player) has signed on again this season and is hoping to play. He injured knee ligaments three seasons ago and hasn’t played since but he’s training and going to see how it goes.”

This season the club will also run a youth team for the first time for a number of years with an under-14 side competing in the Cheltenham Youth League under the watchful eye of manager Chris White.

Stroud League team Bush will also play their matches at Shurdington in 2017/18 and it’s the club’s off-the-field progress in recent seasons that has given Joslyn such cause for optimism.

“We’ve got a new £150,000 clubhouse which we used for the first time last season,” Joslyn said. “Keith Knight put in a lot of work to get the grants and we’ve made big improvements to the pitch. The facilities are excellent. We’re light years ahead of where we were before.”

But while these are exciting times for Shurdington, both Joslyn and Pardoe are concerned by the falling number of teams competing in the Cheltenham League.

The restructure means there will be four divisions this season – there were five in 2016/17 – with the top flight consisting of 12 teams and the other three divisions made up of 13 teams.

“The league is facing its biggest challenge,” said Pardoe. “I’m on the league committee and it’s the lowest number of teams since 1947. We’ve got to find a way of attracting new teams. Shurdington will have a second team in 2018/19 and a number of other clubs may do the same so that will help.

“But the Stroud League still runs seven divisions.

“These days you need 25-30 players to run a first team. Changing lifestyles has got a lot to do with it. A lot of people now work Saturdays.

“But I think the biggest problem has been the change to the licensing laws which allows nightclubs to stay open up until 4-5am. People just don’t want to get up and it’s what did for the Cheltenham Sunday League.”

The Cheltenham League’s powers-that-be are doing their level best to retain and stimulate interest in their product.

This season they have introduced an FA Cup-style competition for the first teams of all clubs in the Cheltenham League – Shurdington travel to play Beeches in the new competition on Tuesday evening – while retaining the popular Junior Charities Cup and Minor Charities Cup for teams from the top two divisions and bottom two divisions respectively.

The league has also introduced play-offs for the first time in divisions two, three and four for the teams finishing second to fifth to determine the second promoted side in each division.