TIVVY GOT A HOLD ON ME

AN Exeter entrepreneur has rekindled the flame by volunteering at his local NonLeague club – a decade after ending a previous stint at boardroom level.

- Mohamed Hamza

Matthew Conridge, 39, returned to Tiverton Town as the club’s vice-chairman at the start of last season, following the end of his first spell as a volunteer in 2013.

Though not specifically from the area, Conridge fell in love with Tiverton as a teenager and never looked back, sparking a life-long passion for the Yellows.

“My first interaction with Tiverton was going to Wembley in 1999 when they won the FA Vase final,” he recalled.

“I was taken up there by a member of the family and I instantly fell in love.

“I’m not a Tiverton man, I’m Exeter-born and bred but I developed an attachment to the club then. Some 10-11 years after that, I joined the club as a director and then chairman and that came to an end back in 2013.

“I rekindled my relationship with the football club at the beginning of last season, but I had no ambitions to get back involved in football at this time of my life.

“I’ve got two young children and a couple of businesses that I run so I didn’t necessarily have a desperate desire to get back involved at the football club but it’s always held a place in my heart.”