FOR York City players and their fans, making the 700-mile round trip to Plymouth once a season must be bad enough.

So spare a though for amateur footballer Ian Davis who undergoes the six-hour drive every WEEK - just to play Sunday football in York.

The 31-year-old centre-half has hardly missed a match in five years playing for York Nomads 85 in the York Sunday Afternoon League first division.

Nothing strange about that perhaps, but when you take into account that he lives and works in the south coast city of Plymouth then his commitment takes on another dimension.

Davis, originally from Chesterfield, joined Nomads five years ago when he was working in Harrogate. His job as a civil engineer has since taken him to South Wales and London but his commitment to the Nomads cause has never wavered.

Only last season when he was based in the African region of Equatorial Guinea - home of the now famous Olympic swimmer Eric the Eel who allegedly trained in the hotel pool where Davis and his colleagues stayed - did travelling prove too much.

"It was just a bit too inconvenient," chuckled the amiable Davis, who admitted he could be on the move again in the future. "I could get a job anywhere, it depends where the work is. I might get a job in York or I might get a job in Singapore. I could probably get back for matches from there - I think the flight times are better than Africa!"

Bachelor Davis combines his weekend visits to York with watching his beloved Chesterfield. His journey usually involves attending Chesterfield's match on the Saturday, a stop-over in the town where they are playing or at his parents in Chesterfield, then onto York on Sunday morning.

He begins the six-hour drive back to Plymouth straight after the game or on Monday morning, depending on his shift at work.

It's a gruelling schedule but one which Davis has no plans to put a stop to, because, in his words: "They're a good set of lads and they're an organised team. It's worth it for the football.

"Wherever I work I'll still come back and play in York. I'm like a gypsy really - I suppose that's why I play for a team called the Nomads."

But surely it would be easier to switch to a team nearer to home? "No, they don't know how to play football down there!" he joked, although he has received a bit of stick for his obsession from his friends who "think I'm mad."

The one concession the team makes for Davis is that he doesn't have to attend midweek training sessions. But that is not a problem according to Davis. "I don't think they train anyway. If they do it doesn't exactly show on a Sunday."

Nomads team manager John Lynch added: "Ian is either incredibly loyal or incredibly stupid! With players with such loyalty you can't go wrong. Other players can't have any excuse for not turning up when a player can make a 700-mile round trip to get there."