At Town, the Butler does it (From The Bolton News)

At Town, the Butler does it

4:22pm Thursday 12th November 2009

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EVERY amateur football club has one. In fact, the majority would probably fold if they didn’t have at least one dedicated soul prepared to be the “dogsbody”.

For whatever official title he or she holds — be it chairman, secretary or treasurer — there is no better label to describe the multi-tasking role of the people who make clubs tick.

At Atherton Town they have Gerald Butler. He collects players’ subs, balances the books and deals with all the administration at league and FA level as well as cutting the grass, washing the kit, cleaning the dressing rooms and helping with the all-important job of organising fund-raising events.

Like many in his position, he is a stalwart; he has been a Town man since 1969 when he played for the team, just two years after the club was formed by the amalgamation of two local teams, Briarcroft Youth Club and Mountain Dew, and has been secretary since 1971.

“Yes, officially I’m secretary-treasurer but in reality I’m the dogsbody — fund-raiser, groundsman, laundryman . . . you name it,” he says matter-of-factly. “But I don’t mind in the slightest. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy it. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t.”

Obviously, he is not a one-man band. In fact was just one of three current Town officials — the late Eric Boardman and Harry Murphy (no longer at the club) were the others — to be awarded the Bolton Wanderers Goldline Outstanding Achievement in Amateur Football award. He also holds the FA’s 30 Year Order of Merit — an honour that has also been bestowed on legendary former manager Harold Crilly and the current chairman John Hyde, who played for the club and whose son “Young John” plays in midfield and coaches the juniors.

But when it comes to the job of ensuring player registrations are in order, fines are paid, the pitch is marked out and the nets are up, it is — as they might say at Atherton Town — the Butler who does it.

It might be described as a thankless task, but the 65-year-old Athertonian — nephew of Billy Butler, the winger who played for Bolton Wanderers in their three FA Cup final victories in the 1920s — regards it as a labour of love, which has not been without its rewards.

In his time at the Howe Bridge club, Town have progressed from the Leigh and District Amateur League to the Bolton Combination and, in 1987, joined the Manchester League in which they now play in the Premier Division. They are a major force on the amateur scene with a string of knockout successes, including four Bolton Hospital Cup wins and five Atherton Charity Cups. But the highlight came in the 2002-03 season when Town, playing under the name of Atherton Cricket Club, went all the way in the now-defunct Carlsberg Pub Trophy before losing to a team from Milton Keynes in the final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium — an unforgettable day out for the 300 Athertonians.

“Seeing the players’ names up on the giant video screens was something special,” Gerald said, recalling the pride he and his hard-working fellow officials felt that day.

In the main, however, the task is to ensure things run smoothly on a match-to-match basis and such long-serving “dogsbodies” are well-drilled in their duties. For Gerald, now retired after running his own business as an insurance broker, the week kicks off with at least two hours of essential paperwork on a Monday morning. Tuesday night is training night and scarcely a day goes by when football matters don’t require his attention.

On Fridays he cuts the grass, marks out the pitch and gets the kits ready for the first and second teams and on Saturday morning the nets have to be put up and the dressing rooms prepared for the match.

In many ways the games themselves are a respite because no sooner has the final whistle sounded than two sets of kit have to be collected and laundered.

“Usually, by 6.30 on Saturday everything is washed and drying ready for next week,” Gerald explains. “It’s just a formula we’ve perfected over the years. I don’t mind doing the washing but I don’t like the pegging out, I never have. But it has to be done.

“There’s so much to keep on top of but there’s also a lot of satisfaction in seeing that the club is run properly. It really is enjoyable.”

Like many other clubs, Atherton Town have considered stepping up the league ladder, but the costs have always been prohibitive.

“You’re always looking to progress and our manager Shaun Lynch, who has been with us 23 years, is very progressive,” Gerald explains. “But the cost of going into the NW Counties is horrendous. Lads want paying and we aren’t prepared to do that. They pay us to play.

“Some of our players will move on to the higher grade at Atherton LR, Atherton Collieries or Daisy Hill. We don’t mind that. We’re really just one step away from non-league and I don’t think there’s a great deal of difference between the Manchester League and the NW Counties. But even at our level we’ve got two senior teams and it costs us about £7,000 to £8,000 a year to run them.

“We have league fees to pay, the lease on the ground and we do all our own maintenance — club stalwart Alan Payne helps me out with that — as well as looking after the pitch, which we have to spend £2,000 to £2,500 on every close season. If people at clubs like ours didn’t put a lot into it, you couldn’t keep going, that’s why we put so much effort into our annual sportsman’s dinners, which can raise £3,500 to £4,000 a season, and a pie and peas night which will raise another £300.

“We also get a lot of help from our main sponsor, Phil Coffey of Leighton Packaging, who has been with us since 1997.”

They must be doing something right at Atherton Town, a facility built from scratch after the club took the lease on a farmer’s field in 1971. On the field and off it there are characters who have been around for years, in some cases second and third generations of families.

Gerald’s son, Martin, played for Town and now manages the second team, and his son, Dominic, plays for the Under-11s — one of 18 junior teams set up five years ago by Shaun Lynch and Shaun Taylor.

Of the current crop of players, Gary O’Hagan, Rob Graham and Andy Laverey have been around for years and father and son Gary and Sam Osborne are regulars.

Lynch — a Town man for 23 years, the last 12 as manager and now working in tandem with Mick Southern — has no doubts over Gerald’s importance to the club.

“He’s a top bloke,” the manager said. “The work Gerald has done here down the years has made the club what it is today.

“Without Gerald there would be no Atherton Town.”

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