WARREN Barlow, chairman of the Bolton, Bury and District Football League shares his thoughts on the league’s development in his final weekly column of the season

AS the BBDFL season comes to a close we now move to our vision for the future which will hopefully see the BBDFL split into two distinct leagues

The BBDFL will remain, but the BBDFL will be born!

Confused? Well I will explain.

The Bolton, Bury and District Football League provides football at weekends and some midweek games when nights are light for under-7s through to u21s and will continue to do so – growing the game, improving standards and attempting to create a structure which will not only stand the test of time, but will be one others will want to replicate.

The Bolton, Bury and District Futsal League will be a new competition with its own affiliation and will have futsal-affiliated teams playing in it.

This will predominantly be played on a Sunday with some midweek games as the competition grows.

In the first year we are looking to have 12 teams at each age group from u7s to u14s, although this is dependent on facilities and may even be more.

Year one, therefore, will provide a minimum of 96 places for futsal teams in the area to join this new and exciting competition.

Year on year we are looking to move up the age groups, providing u15s, then u16s, etc until we have an adult futsal league which will be another milestone for the BBDFL-registered charity.

So when people ask if we have finished growing and improving, we always reply – not a chance!