Phil Lowe: The man who’s shaped more than 50 years of football in Devon

Few people have shaped grassroots football in Tavistock and across the wider Devon leagues quite like Phil Lowe. 

Over fifty years, he has held almost every role the amateur game can offer: secretary, administrator, kit man, first aider, groundsman, referee, linesman and committee member. 

READ NEXT: Plymouth council decision puts pressure on Exeter over election delay vote

He has guided clubs through promotions, relegations, crises, restructures and golden years. 

And through it all, he has remained, in his words, “someone who couldn’t step back even when I tried.”

A legacy woven through generations

Phil’s story begins long before his first committee meeting. It begins with his grandfather, Albert Dennis Lowe, known as Jimmy, who was one of the most influential football figures Tavistock has ever had. 

Jimmy joined Tavistock AFC shortly after 1920, first as a player and later as a stalwart administrator. 

He was a true football man of his era, a capable utility player who could turn out anywhere across the pitch, often roped into games at the last minute.

Jimmy went on to serve as Tavistock’s club secretary for 48 years, right up until 1966, and later became vice chairman of the old South Western League. 

He was central in forming the Devon League, and, in many ways, helped design the administrative foundations on which the modern local game was built.

Phil’s middle name, James, is a tribute to his grandfather’s legacy.

Growing up in football’s back rooms

By contrast, Phil never played for Tavistock, and instead, grew up steeped in the administrative side of the sport.

He recalls following his father and grandfather through committee rooms, touchlines and clubhouse meetings.

His earliest memories are of “watching matches played in my other grandfather’s field in Lamerton”, and observing his father Roger Dennis Lowe, who was Whitchurch AFC Chairman & Tavistock AFC Chairman and Secretary.

By sixteen, Phil was already on the Lamerton committee, and at seventeen, he was nominated for a senior role by Arthur Dawe, becoming one of the youngest administrators in Devon. 

ABOVE: Phil as Lamerton Secretary back in 1976

A career built not on playing, but on service

Phil’s contribution has always been focused not on playing the game, but in making it possible for others to play. 

Over the decades, his roles expanded to include kit man, first aider, linesman, referee, vice chairman, acting chairman, grounds assistant and more.

“I’ve done everything except pull on the shirt; Two left feet, two right boots as they say” he jokes. “But I did have a run-out for the Vets, that’s as close as I got.”

Where his grandfather influenced the sport both on and off the pitch, Phil’s legacy is firmly in the  behind-the-scenes backbone of football across Devon and the South West.

ABOVE: Intricate patterns created on the Langsford Park pitch by Phil

Initially reluctant to join Tavistock, but always seemed destined to

For years, Phil resisted following his father into a position at Tavistock AFC. “He was league secretary by then, and I never wanted to mix things up. I said I’d never go in while he was there.” But in 1989, after three years of approaches, Phil finally joined The Lambs.

The turning point was a conversation with Mickey Sloman, who told him:

“Tavi goes from one crisis to another and always seems to stumble through.”

“It’s no different now to be honest!” Phil admitted with a smile.

From the moment he arrived, he became central to stabilising and reshaping the club. 

His first season brought recognition: a Plymouth & Devon League Secretary of the Season award, beginning a long run of honours over the years. 

Among his cherished memories is captaining friendships and personalities that shaped club culture. 

He still speaks warmly of players like the Sherrell twins, Dave and Matthew, who broke into the first team at seventeen and eighteen, and of John Brachely, whom he calls “the best captain I ever saw. If he had a bad game, nobody else would.”

Shaping the leagues that shape the clubs

Phil’s influence extends far beyond Tavistock AFC. He served as secretary of the South Western League during its final three seasons, a role he describes as “a steep learning curve, but invaluable.”

Working alongside chairman Bob Bell, he learned the importance of complete neutrality. 

Bell’s advice has stayed with him his entire career:

“If you’re doing one of your mates a favour, you’re doing the opposition a disfavour.”

Phil also helped lay the foundations of the South West Peninsula League, working as part of the six-member committee that oversaw its formation between 2005 and 2007. 

It was a complex period of restructuring, merging county leagues, balancing an uneven spread of Devon and Cornish clubs, and meeting new FA regulations.

“Those years were certainly an eye-opener on the league rules and how the league works,” he says.

ABOVE: Fully clad in his Tavistock AFC gear

The club that became a life

Phil returned to Tavistock as honorary secretary from 2007 to 2015, guiding the club through modernisation and the major redevelopment of Langsford Park. 

He later served as vice chairman between 2017 and 2022, even acting chairman through the difficult pandemic years.

Alongside the official titles, he did countless invisible jobs: kit man, first aider, linesman, organiser, groundsman. 

Even after “stepping back,” he remains on the Tavistock AFC committee to this day, and is the longest-serving figure currently at the club following Derek Pethick’s passing in October 2024 after 62 years with The Lambs.

ABOVE: Martin Williams presenting Phil's recognition for years of service to Tavistock AFC in May 2025

A legacy rooted on Dartmoor

In 2024, Phil received an FA Award honouring 50 years of service to football. He describes it simply: “I was so honoured, so very proud. I am actually one of the youngest to have received the accolade, having been in football since I was only a teen”.

The journey has been long, winding and often demanding, but Phil Lowe has been there for all of it. 

From watching matches as a boy on his grandfather’s field to helping take Tavistock into the Southern League, his life follows the evolution of Devon’s growing footballing identity.