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ALL ACTION ... Hebers and Woodman players compete for the ball during their HPS Challenge Cup first round clash at Parkfields.
Sunday League pitch battle
by George Dodds15/10/2008
SUNDAY League officials have made an official complaint to Rochdale Council over the state of facilities being endured by footballers in Middleton.
But three weeks after Carl Reed, writing on behalf of the league’s member clubs, emailed the list of complaints to the council’s sports development team he had not received a response – and no action has been taken to address the most serious problems.
It is the second time in three years that the league – which suffered the withdrawal of 11 teams during the close season and currently only has 15 in membership – has complained about facilities at Parkfield and Bowlee where most of the league’s games are played.
Clubs pay around £600 a year to rent a pitch but – after the opening week of the season was washed out by heavy rain – teams arrived for the first game of the season at Parkfield to find that – among other complaints – there was a broken window in the toilets, tiles missing and loose on the shower walls, broken shower heads in the referees room and changing area and that the dressing rooms had not been cleaned since the last game of the previous season, over five months earlier.
As a result some players are changing in the car park at Parkfield rather than use the changing rooms.
Locks had been changed on the main doors of the changing rooms and, because staff did not have new keys, the only way in or out of the changing rooms was via a rear fire escape door.
In his email Mr Reed said: "This left us in an unacceptable position without a second means of access/exit (fire escape). You are providing a facility for people of the borough to enjoy their pleasure time and are charging clubs for the privilege, but the quality of those services is not to a basic standard expected by anyone. You have serious health and safety issues with your facilities in Middleton. I am the referee’s secretary for the Middleton and District SFL who have lost another 11 teams this season, the vast majority because of playing facilities in the area."
Mr Reed does accept that some improvements have been made at Bowlee where some pitches have been repositioned and new, portable goalposts and goal nets have been bought.
Since the email was sent to the council another full set of fixtures has been lost because of waterlogged pitches and on Sunday players from all four games taking place at Parkfield still had to use the rear fire escape while the door nearest the pitch remained shuttered and locked.
On the opening day of the season Cardinal Villa and Dog Inn had to play on a pitch at Parkfield which had not been mowed and where the touchlines were not visible to the referee. And even the Bowlee improvements have been less that universally welcomed.
Because the new posts are dismantled at the end of every game they have to be carried from the changing rooms and assembled by the players and club officials before kick-off.
The Guardian has been approached by some officials and players who are concerned about the health and safety implications of an accident suffered while the posts are being carried and assembled.
Some have even expressed concerns over whether the insurance which cover players injured during a game extends to the transport and assembly of the goals.
At Bowlee there is the additional problem of limited car parking, especially when all four senior pitches and the neighbouring junior pitches are fully utilised.
The problem has been exacerbated by the arrival of council-employed traffic wardens – usually midway through the first-half of a match – who target cars parked along Heywood Old Road near to the football pitch entrance.
One supporter said to me: "It’s ridiculous. We pay a fortune to rent a pitch which is rarely playable after it has rained, we have to carry our own posts out and put them up, the changing rooms are a joke, you can’t get a decent shower after a game and then the traffic wardens are on your case. No wonder players can’t be bothered to turn up and clubs are folding hand over fist. Rochdale Council has taken a lot of money out of amateur football clubs over the years and I don’t think that we have had anything remotely like a fair return for that money."
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17/10/2008 at 15:13