IN the first of a new series this year looking at the history of West Devon sporting clubs Times Sport turns the spotlight on Okehampton Argyle Football Club.

IN 1926, a group of railway workers, including the late Mr Claude Cockwill, met in the Plymouth Inn, West Street, Okehampton, in the hope of forming just one football team in the town.

At a later meeting it was agreed that the name of the new team would be Okehampton Argyle. Prior to this, there had been several teams based in Okehampton, most notably Okehampton Ivyleaves, Okehampton Town, Devon Motor Transport and Okehampton Labour Club.

Football in Okehampton dated back much earlier than this and there are team photos in existence of an Okehampton AFC as early as 1904. As this predates the formation of Argyle, one assumes that the AFC stands for Association Football Club.

Okehampton Argyle entered the West Devon League in the 1929/30 season, and in 1931/32 they won the League Shield and the Start Cup without losing a match.

That same season, it was decided that the club would join the Exeter and District League (later to become the Devon and Exeter League), where they stayed for more than 60 years.

In the 1993/94 season, the first team joined the Jewson South Western League. At this time the reserve and third teams entered the North Devon League, where they stayed for two seasons before rejoining the Devon and Exeter League.

The 1996/97 season saw the first team follow them back into the Devon and Exeter League, taking back their place in the premier division. Since 2007, the first team have competed in the South West Peninsula League, part of the FA national league system.

Okehampton Argyle have not always played their football on the current pitch at Simmons Park. For a while they played on a site in North Road and in the 1940s the pitch was located in Simmons Park between the bowling green and the River Okement.

In those days an essential part of the kitbag was a net on a long pole, used to retrieve the ball from the river! It was even taken to Exeter City's St James Park for the 1946/47 Devon County Junior Cup final, and can be seen in the background of the team photograph taken after winning the match 4-0 against Astor Institute. This team included local schoolmaster Denzil Mortimer, who had played as an amateur for Exeter City before the war and had a successful trial with Arsenal, but the outbreak of the war had prevented him from pursuing his career with the London club.

The following season saw the Junior League one title come to the town, and then in 1952/53 the team won the Football Express Cup again at Saint James Park with a 2-1 victory over Westexe Rovers. After a long wait for further success, the Junior League one title was once again won by the club in 1961/62.

In the 1977/78 season, Argyle lost only one league match all season in gaining promotion to senior football in the Devon and Exeter League and eventually on to the premier division.

The next major trophy won by the club was the East Devon Senior Cup in 2004/05, when Heavitree Social United were defeated in front of a crowd of more than 300 spectators at Tiverton Town's ground. Unfortunately, league form did not match cup form in that season, and the first team was relegated from the premier division of the Devon and Exeter League.

However, they immediately bounced back in 2005/06, by winning the senior one title with only two defeats all season, and 102 goals scored.

In 2006/07, they finished fourth in the Premier Division and this enabled them to qualify to become founder members of the new South West Peninsula League in 2007/08.

The club has been in division one of this league ever since, competing at step seven of the national non-league pyramid. This has been a very strong level for an amateur side to compete at with several of the clubs being semi-professional and normally the club has finished in the lower reaches of the table. Their best performance was in 2011/12 when they finished in eighth place out of 17 teams.

Okehampton reserves play in division four of The Devon and Exeter League having won promotion in 2008/09, the same year that they brought the Football Express Cup back to the town.

Argyle relies mainly on the Youth Football Club for their supply of players. Many of their best players have come through this set-up and some have gone on to play at a higher level.

In the past two seasons, the first team has been pleased to include a few Royal Marines and Royal Navy players in their squad. These lads based in Plymouth have been happy to play for the team on an amateur basis and have added to the strength of the squad, but of course due to postings and duty rosters they are not always available and it has been difficult to get a consistent line-up.

Okehampton Argyle Youth currently runs seven teams at under 7, U8, U10, U11, U12, U13 and U16 levels. The teams play in the Exeter Youth League and the North Devon Youth League. Last season, both the U16s and the U9s were runners up in the Exeter League Cup.

In the past, Mark Burdus, Adam Mortimer and Matt Mortimer have come through the youth set-up and gone on to play for Devon County U18s after graduating to the Argyle adult sides.

Toby Gostling was with the Plymouth Argyle Youth development squad while Kian Burns currently is with them. Josh Parsons was with the Exeter City Youth development squad. Ollie Crimmins and Toby Gostling are both currently with the Exeter City Youth Academy

Anyone interested in playing youth football at Okehampton please contact youth secretary Russell Metherall on 01837 55018 or 07968 438022.

In the past, Okehampton Argyle has fielded a team in the Devon Ladies' League, but with several of the players having left the town for university, the club has been unable to find a large enough squad to continue with a ladies' team in recent seasons.

The first XI has traditionally played in the town colours of blue and yellow, but this season a new sponsorship deal with Exeter based Trinity Fire and Security Systems has resulted in a change to the sponsors' colours of orange and black.

The second XI still play in blue and yellow and are sponsored by Okehampton business Pizza Plus. The club would like to thank all their sponsors and advertisers for their generosity and support.

n With special thanks to Charlie Bond, Okehampton Argyle FC and also to the past and present committee members of Okehampton Argyle FC.