THE Somerset Youth Under-18 League is braced to return bigger and better than ever thanks to the intervention of a thriving existing organisation.

With numbers of participating teams down and a shortage of volunteers to administer it, the under-18 body is to be given a new lease of life ahead of the start of the 2015-16 campaign.

The long-established and popular Taunton Youth League, which boasts more than 100 teams for under-11s to under-16s participants, has stepped in to take it under its wing in a bold bid to ensure its survival and offer older teenagers an enhanced springboard to full senior amateur status.

Secretary of the new all-encompassing set-up, Gary Best, explained: “The Somerset Youth Under-18 League will retain its name. It’s just that it will now be run by the existing Taunton Youth League.

“The under-18s league has been going for about three seasons and like any organisation of its type, it needs support, and that support and enthusiasm which got it off the ground and reached a pinnacle of 14 teams last season is no longer there.

“Lately it has been operating in a more informal way so it makes sense for it to become part of an existing and successful system and hopefully we can attract more teams currently at under-16s level, from within and outside our own structure, and make it a perfect platform for teenagers finishing school, and looking towards further education or work, to continue performing in.”

Best added: “Under-18s leagues are important because without them many 16 and 17-year-olds find the step up to adult football too much, so it provides an ideal transition to the likes of the Taunton and District Saturday and Taunton and Bridgwater Sunday leagues.

“The Taunton Youth League covers West Somerset down to Willand and Tiverton in Devon and across as far as the Isle of Wedmore and Bridgwater, so the potential catchment is enormous.”

Any clubs wishing to sign up for the revamped Somerset Youth Under-18s League can call Gary Best on 07767 613513.