Star Meadow development confirmed

Soccer Elite FA is delighted to confirm that it is a primary partner of Invictus Sports Group (ISG), who embark upon development of the Star Meadow Sports Complex in Gillingham this month.

ISG, made up of Wayne Peirce (Star Meadow owner), Rich Radbourne (Soccer Elite FA co-owner) and Lee Spiller (Soccer Elite FA founder and co-owner), is a new company which will control and operate the site, which will become the home of Soccer Elite FA and Hollands & Blair Football Club.

During this autumn and winter, improvements will be made to the facility including the installation of a FIFA-graded artificial surface (replacing the main grass pitch), two new classrooms for the SEFA College Education Programme, new office space, a new boardroom, a new changing room layout, new dugouts and expanded car parking. Work is scheduled to begin on Monday 10 October.

Rich Radbourne said: “For years now at Soccer Elite, we have known that the next step as a company would be to have a facility we could call our own. We have always been able to deliver top class coaching, but have sometimes been limited by having to hire external venues to host our sessions.

“By developing the Star Meadow site, we are able to massively expand our reach in the community while providing an unrivalled experience for all of our players from ages 4 to 19. It is hard to put into words both the work that has gone into reaching this point, but this effort will be so worthwhile and will provide a platform for SEFA to move onto a completely different level as an organisation.

“The facility is already the base for SEFA College – which provides 16 to 19-year-olds with full time BTEC, NCFE and FA courses, alongside daily football training and weekly matches – and some Academy sessions; once the new artificial surface is laid, all of SEFA’s Academy sessions and soccer schools currently taking place in Medway will move to Star Meadow. We will also have the freedom to arrange fixtures, training camps and tournaments at our will, which once again will massively improve the experience of each player we work with. 

“The SEFA coaches will also be based at the venue in newly-configured office space, so Star Meadow really will be home for us as staff and our players. It truly is an incredibly exciting time to be part of Soccer Elite FA and I know I speak on behalf of all the team in saying we are so excited to see what the future holds.”

Find out more about the development of the Star Meadow Sports Complex here.