The coveted footballing name of Stevenage Borough is to be brought back to life with the launch of a brand new soccer team providing quality Saturday league football for adults in the town.

Stevenage Borough used to be the name of the town’s main football team from 1976 until it was dropped in favour of Stevenage FC in 2010.

But now coaches want to resurrect it for a new over-16 male team – Stevenage Borough Community FC, which they say will give players a decent amateur standard of football as an alternative to the Sunday pub league circuit and six-a-side matches.

Brian Mitchell – who is currently vice chair of the Stevenage Borough Juniors club which is behind the new team – said: “At the moment you reach 16 and you end up playing Sunday league football or playing six-a-side football with your mates.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, but it means there’s limited opportunities for players to play at a decent level.

“We want to provide opportunities for people who have a reasonable level of skill and want to keep playing once they’re 16.”

The first team will play in Division One of the Herts County League and the reserves will play in the Hertford and District League. A development squad which will aim to give youngsters a relatively painless transition into adult football, will play in a lower division of the Hertford league.

Stevenage Borough Juniors currently caters for some 2,000 youngsters – girls and boys – from under fives up to 16.

Mr Mitchell said the new team is an example of the kind of progress that needs to be made at grass roots football to help the English game recover from the financial inequalities of the Premier League and the current disgrace of the national game.

He said: “They get all this money at the top and claim it filters down, but we’ve never had any money from the Premier League whatsoever.

“We have to balance the books and try to tuck a bit of money away for the future and the biggest outlay is paying for the hire of winter training facilities.”

Mr Mitchell says top quality coaching is the secret to success, with the club insisting on coaches gaining their FA qualifications.

The new team is training on Tuesdays and Thursdays at King George’s Playing Fields in Stevenage from 7.30pm.

Anyone who would like the opportunity to play should go along at 7.30pm, or you can call the team manager Jacob Dawson on 07920 067186.