01/08/2013
A NEW BEGINNING
Last week the league has suffered a bit of a setback when two teams belatedly pulled out. One folding and the other moving leagues. With a third team potentially folding we were left in a precarious position of potentially starting the season with 7 teams.
I was concerned about the future of the league and where that would leave teams and their players. I therefore contacted the Mid Lancashire League and asked if they could help us out. The committee at the Mid Lancs league were very supportive and offered us a fantastic opportunity to guarantee football for the year without too much change and to develop ourselves as teams.
I spent last week talking to club secretaries and the Mid Lancs League officials and tonight we all had a meeting where a future was agreed.
Basically, our league will continue next season but we will become the bottom of the MID LANCASHIRE FOOTBALL LEAGUE (Division 4).
Not much will change for you this season as we will be playing the same teams (3 times) so your football will remain in Chorley. But the big difference is that there will be an opportunity to win promotion and we will be entered into their cups.
I took over the league from John Haydock after his sad passing away a few years ago and tried to keep it going because I didn’t want to see it fall by the wayside and wanted to make sure teams and players in Chorley could carry on playing competitive football. Therefore, it is sad to see the Chorley and District Alliance League with all its heritage have to look for a change of direction; but I don’t see what we are doing as a failure in that respect. The league is not folding, it is merging into another league and starting a new beginning with plenty of opportunities for Chorley clubs to improve and grow. This might be the end of an era, but most importantly it isn’t the end of football in Chorley on a Saturday afternoon. Rather than kill the league I see it as the only way of saving the league and giving it a realist future – merged into a larger league.
The new beginning will be without our current committee members with Me (Gaz), Lee Salisbury, Julie McClellan and Laura Griffin all handing over our responsibilities.
Anyway, your secretaries and managers will provide details about the coming season (starting 31st August).
With that I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been involved and supported me in the last few years. It has been extremely tough juggling running the league with a full time job, but I have met some good people as a result and enjoyed it in the most part. More importantly I would like to highlight a few people who we should all thank for their huge efforts in keeping the league going to date.
John Haydock dedicated 60 years of his life to this league and whilst he will never see this it would be wrong not to mention him and say thanks.
Lee Salisbury has been involved in the league for longer than most of us can remember and has done a fantastic job as Chairman for many years.
Julie McClellan has been fixtures Secretary since I took over and worked hard to sort our fixtures out when the weather and our pitches made it a real challenge .
Also, whilst talking about Julie – a great big thanks to Julie and the Booth family who have kindly sponsored the CM Booth Cup for 17 years.
Laura Griffin (my wife) has been Treasurer and kept tabs on the league funds and supported me with the various jobs I have been doing.
If I missed anyone I apologise, and sorry for such a long message.
I will keep this page up for now to keep you updated and if you want it to continue will speak to Mid Lancashire League to see if they will let me carry it on. In the mean time the web site is http://www.midlancsfootballleague.com/Home.
Good luck and good night!
Do not forget THE KICK OFF TIMES ARE NOW 2-30pm for League matches and 2-00 for Cup Fixtures. If a game is postponed it is the responsibility of the "HOME TEAM MANAGER" to inform the appropriate results service of this fact. Do not presume that because there is a message on the website informing off...
