A newly formed football club in Stoke Orchard is set to make history.

Stoke Orchard Football Club will compete in the Cheltenham Youth League and it is believed their teams will be the first to carry the village’s name.

They will field two teams – one in the under-12 division and the other in the under-10 age group – and they’ll play their home games at Tewkesbury School, just a few miles up the road from Stoke Orchard.

David Cooper is Stoke Orchard’s chairman and secretary and he and his son John are the driving forces behind the new set-up.

Both are football men – they will coach the under-12s – but their journey to this point is about much more than just the beautiful game.

Their story is a truly heartfelt one, a story that tugs at so many emotions, dealing as it does with huge personal loss while at the same time providing hope for the future.

John’s second son Ezra died a couple of years ago at the age of just six. He was born with Zellweger’s syndrome which meant he couldn’t see, hear or speak.

But such was the impact that Ezra had on so many people that David and John, who is also dad to Ethan and Eli, were determined to do something in his memory.

“He was such a happy lad, everyone knew him,” said his grandad. “He was very vocal in the noises he made and he was very aware of his environment.

“We wanted to commemorate his life, leave a legacy, so we said, ‘What about starting a football club?’”

And that’s how Stoke Orchard Football Club was born, a football club with Ezra very much at its heart.

The club’s badge consists of a football with a phoenix rising out of it, a couple of stars and Ezra’s date of birth – 27^th October 2015 – written in Roman numerals.

The badge is predominantly purple which was Ezra’s colour and David continued: “We couldn’t have purple shirts because the referees in the Cheltenham Youth League wear purple but the numbers on the back of the players’ shirts will be in purple.”

And the club are going to need plenty of shirts because at the time of writing they have been attracting some 35 players to their twice-weekly training sessions, a number that has delighted David.

“We want to get local kids into the fresh air and give them the chance to play football,” said David.

“Our philosophy is not just about competitive football, we just want to see youngsters outside playing the game.”

The under-10s will be coached by Mark Skelding and Martin Bailey and the club’s plan is to have many more teams in the years to come.

“We’re not going to be a fly-by-night football club that folds after a year,” continued David.

“We want to get the foundations right and in the next three or four years we want teams in every age group from under-eights to under-16s.”

And they want those teams to eventually be playing their football in Stoke Orchard.

“Our long-term vision is to have football pitches and changing rooms in Stoke Orchard and we have the support of the parish council,” said David, who, like John, lives in the village.”

John’s oldest son Ethan will be playing for the under-12s this season while seven-year-old Eli will be attending training and coaching with the rest of the development players.

The under-12 team will be sponsored by Zellweger UK.