IN this weather-beaten football season the Bolton Boys Federation has taken drastic action whilst others dilly dally.

A decision has been taken to suspend play for two weeks and erase records to date. All divisions will now be split into two sections with play to recommence from scratch on Sunday February 25.

"It's been an absolute nightmare with all the postponements," explained match secretary Miles Harrison.

"Matters were just going from bad to worse and we were trying to struggle through each week as best as we could. Bolton Leisure Services made the decision yet again last weekend that all matches would be off on their grounds so the backlog was piled up even higher.

"We felt something had to be done sooner rather than later. Some teams have as many as 26 league games still to play but others as few as 14. There are only 13 Sundays left until the end of April so there is no way we could possibly complete all the playing schedules.

"We have to take into account pitches as well as teams and the toll on grounds by trying to cram everything in would perhaps cause irreparable damage. It will only be decided tomorrow night at the joint liaison meeting how long Bolton Parks will extend the playing season for.

"So many things come into the equation. There are a lot of boys in our league who play cricket in the summer and we don't want to impinge on that. Also there would have been a worry over the availability of our referees for night matches as they have to officiate for other leagues as well as ours and everyone will be in the same boat trying to play midweek games.

"We felt we had to try and create a meaningful competition for our clubs. The new sections will contain seven, in one or two cases eight, teams so at most there will be fourteen games to play. The top two finishing sides will got into play-offs in each age group to decide the championship.

"No changes will be made to the Jubilee Cup competitions. We are already at the quarter final stages which I will attempt to stage on Sunday February 18. Wiping out playing records to date may seem harsh on some teams who have played a lot of games but this has been done to help them as well.

"There could have been a scenario where we got to the end of the season and some teams had been unable to play all their games. Their records would have to be expunged so a team apparently finishing top may lose points they had gained and end up losing the championship by it. We are convinced that what we have done is the best for everyone."

Match reports in tomorrow's BEN