YOUNGSTERS at Cullompton Rugby Club could be left without anywhere to play after the owner of the field where one of the club’s three pitches is located put the land up for sale.

The club runs a 250-strong junior section, with age groups from under six to 16 year olds but club chairman Phil Shere says the sale of the pitch could force it to fold some of the younger age group sides .

Part of the 5.7-acre site is up for sale with Savills and has been allocated for housing, while the other part is unallocated.

Mr Shere said: “If we lose that pitch, we have some hard decisions to make to find the facilities and to enable the juniors to play rugby.

“We may have to stop running some of the age groups , as we don’t have the facilities for them to continue – and the problem comes when you have a parent with children in different teams, who aren’t able to be in two places at once .

“We will have to seriously consider if we can maintain the primary school age groups – it’s only a consideration at the moment but we couldn’t do away with our older age groups because they are the players who will feed directly into our senior set-ups .

“This will leave me and the committee with a tough three months to try and put arrangements in place so that current club activities can continue in their present form.

"To allow this land to be used for anything other than playing rugby on would be as big an act of vandalism as erecting a tower block in the middle of Exmoor.”

All junior rugby activities take place on one site, which works well for the organisers who have to ensure the children’s security and safety – a task which would be made much more difficult if the club was forced to operate on two sites, especially for parents with children in more than one age group.

The club has a licence on the pitch until June and says it will honour the present agreement and vacate the area by that time.

Club grounds keeper Edwin Baker said: “The role this pitch plays cannot be overstated.

“It is certainly one of the best natural pitches in Devon, maybe even the region, as it is fairly level and, rarely for level land, extremely well drained, facilitating play after days of continual rain, an advantage enjoyed by hardly any rugby club in Devon.”

Junior chairman Lizz Wyle said: “This is a watershed moment – do the people of Cullompton want a local rugby club?

“I would have thought they did after the enormous local interest shown in 2009 when we wo n the National Cup at Twickenham but if they sit on their hands and allow this land to be developed it will sho w I was wrong.”

The land owner declined to comment when contacted by The Star.

Mid-Devon District Council has granted outline planning permission for 285 homes, including 35% affordable housing and other ancillary infrastructure – including public open space on land to the north.