Club’s future fear over pitch battle
ABOSS of a junior football club in West Lancashire says it could fold after being booted off its regular pitch.
St Thomas Lydiate Junior Football Club has been told that despite using a field at St Gregory’s Junior School in Lydiate for the past 40 years, it will no longer be able to do so after the end of this month.
The junior school, in Sandy Lane, said it had no option after receiving “a number of complaints” over the condition of footpaths after training and matches, and parking issues.
Bot Bob Doherty, the assistant club manager for St Thomas Lydiate Junior Football Club, claims the school had not “formally given us any reason” as to why it made the decision.
The club, which provides football for more than 100 children aged from four to 18, used the pitch for training practice and for home matches.
Bob, who has been involved with the club for 18 years, said: “Over the 40 years, [more than 3,000] local children have gone through our club, providing grass roots and junior football to the local community and run entirely by volunteers,
“We are the only junior football club in the area.
“Without a pitch the club is in serious danger of folding.”
The club, which is managed by Brian Rigby, was established in 1985, plays in The Alice Petricca, Hightown, and Craven Minor Junior Football Leagues.
A spokesperson for St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School, said: “We have received a number of complaints from the local community about the condition of the footpaths after training/ football matches and we have also received comments about parking issues, which has left us with no option but to terminate the contract with the football club.
“Despite our previous discussions with Mr Rigby regarding the ongoing issues we have experienced to try to resolve the issues as amicably as possible, we have not been able to reach a solution.
“Our decision to terminate the contract is in line with the terms and conditions of the agreement, which states ‘the school can cancel any letting at short notice if circumstances make undesirable’.
“We notified the club of our decision in April and have agreed to honour all home games until the end of the football season.
“We believe that we have given adequate notice to the football team for terminating the contract and wish them well for the future.”
Amid the uncertainty over the club’s future, Bob said: “The kids and parents are devastated about this decision.
“In 2016, a survey commissioned by Sefton about the state of grass based sports, including junior football, in the borough concluded the facilities, quality and number of pitches was totally inadequate.
“One the recommendations to help resolve this was to make better use of under used school playing fields to give access to grass roots and junior football.
“The bigger picture is The FA report rapid decline in the last five years of kids playing grass roots and junior football, there are many reasons for this but one of them is the lack of affordable quality venues, and now we are losing ours.” the use