Bibury Football Club could potentially have a pretty impressive six-a-side team.

Not in terms of performance on the pitch in 2018 – albeit back in the day they’d have been quite tasty – but in terms of old-fashioned footballing values such as loyalty, commitment and longevity.

The captain would have to be the club’s current chairman Peter Lees, who has been with the club since he was 14 in the days when Britain was coming to terms with life post-World War Two.

“He’s now in his early 80s,” said committeeman Les Smith. “He was a very good player and played up until his mid-40s. He was also a linesman for the club and has been chairman for as long as I can remember. He’s just done his 70th year with Bibury.”

And lining up alongside Lees in the six-a-side team would have to be Willy Brown, Derek James, Paul Perry, Keith Stevens and John Mander.

“Willy Brown’s been secretary of the club for 55 years,” said Smith. “He’s also our treasurer and was the club’s goalkeeper for many years.

“Derek James has been involved as a groundsman and a player for 40 years while committee member Paul Perry has been with the club for nearly 50 years. He was a player and manager before going on the committee.

“Keith Stevens is another ex-player who has been on the committee for many, many years and he also helps behind the bar on matchdays.

“And John Mander is another ex-player who has been running the line for the last 20 years.”

That’s a pretty impressive ‘team’ and if you added up their years of service to the club you would surely be getting up to somewhere in the region of 300 years which is quite remarkable.

Smith, himself, is a familiar face at the club. Born and bred in Bibury – he still lives in the village which is six or so miles to the north and east of Cirencester – he was a goalkeeper for the club’s reserve team in the 90s before retiring before the turn of the century due to work commitments when he was in his late 20s.

He’s been on the committee for the past 10 or 12 years and is responsible for all the admin and computer work at the club.

These days the club run only one team who play in Division Two of the Northern Senior League and Smith admits that “it’s getting harder and harder” to keep the club going.

That was particularly the case last season when the club were relegated from Division One and, says Smith, “nearly folded” due to a lack of players, adding “it’s thanks to Peter Lees and Willy Brown that the club are still going”.

Happily the club are in a much healthier state in terms of numbers this season.

“We’ve got about 28 players signed on,” said Smith. “Jamie Want, who used to play for Fairford, is our manager – he started in July – and he’s brought in a load of new players, he’s done well to get a team.

“We’ve got some good players. Dominic O’Neill is a very good striker and Kanne Outram, who has been with us for seven or eight years, is a good midfielder.”

Most of the club’s players are from the Cirencester area and a few years ago the club had a very successful flagship team.

“That was when Mark Hathaway was manager,” explained Smith. “His son was playing for Stratton Under-16s and when he was old enough he brought a lot of his mates over to Bibury.”

Hathaway, who played for Bibury for some 15 years, retired as manager about five years ago.

The club have had two or three spells in Division One of the Northern Senior League and the aim is to get back to that level at some stage in the future.

They would certainly be welcomed back to the top-flight because their facilities at Aldsworth Road are top notch.

The club, which records show dates back to at least the early 20th century – “There’s a picture in the clubhouse from 1908,” said Smith – used to play in the village before moving to their current home just up the road.

“We’ve got some great facilities,” added Smith, “some of the best in the Northern Senior League. The pitch is on a bit of a slope but no amount of rain will cause a game to be called off.

“The only reason we ever call off a game is if there is a really hard frost.

“We’ve got a nice clubhouse and run a successful bar, it’s just a well-run club.”