ATHERTON old boys will be going head to head next week in a double celebration of their time in the Bolton Association.

The club's thriving Past Players Association have organised the game to mark their 94th and last year in the Bolton Association and the 25th anniversary of winning the league.

The original plan was to have a team of old boys lining up against the present-day side, but the event has become so popular it has become a complete blast-from-the-past occasion.

Current first-team captain Paul Walsh has been contacting players to see if they want to play and has been inundated with requests, meaning no present-day players will now be needed.

Tagged as the triumphant 1990 team versus other past players, six players from the title-winning side of 25 years ago – including Walsh's dad, Steve, who captained that side – will be joined by another five who played in the mid-1990s teams.

The other team will be made up of a random selection of other former players.

The big day takes place a week on Sunday at the Eckersley Fold Lane club when proceeds will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Walsh said: "The day is mainly to celebrate our 94th and last year in the Bolton Association and to raise money for Macmillian Cancer Support so we aren’t forgetting the members we’ve lost over the years who’ve done so much.

"This year nicely happens to coincide with our 25th anniversary of the 1990 Championship win."

That was the second of three occasions Atherton won the league, the others being 1945 and 2013.

They are third in the current table ahead of tomorrow's home game against third-bottom Westleigh and are going all out to try to be the last winners of the Association which will fold at the end of the season due to the current shake-up of the structure of league cricket in the Greater Manchester area.

Walsh added: "We just want everybody who's been connected with the club at any period of time for no matter how long or what capacity their involvement was to come together for the day and celebrate what we think is the success of our great club in the Bolton and District Association.

"We've got ex-members travelling the length and breadth of the country for this which is great to see."

Chairman of the Past Players Association, Tony Gredecki, said: "The game will be great fun but extremely competitive due to the nature of the characters involved.

"The real winner on the day will be the club and our chosen charity Macmillan Cancer Support, but everyone involved will want their team to win for club bragging rights.

"The teams are a mixture of former club professionals, club legends including Steve Walsh, Paul Brown and former players from the past 40 or so years, including former England Under-19s all rounder Jonathan Fearick.

"Past players from wide and far will be attending including father and son duo John and Paul Cleworth, John a life former player, former club treasurer and life member of the BDCA, who will be travelling from Aviemore, and his son Paul a former player who is travelling from Bedfordshire.

"I’m sure the day will confirm what a great family club Atherton is and demonstrate to the younger members of the club the pleasure and pride many players have taken in wearing the Atherton shirt and representing our club."

The teams will be:

Team one – S. Walsh, P. Brown, A. Hall (ex-professional), S. Bailey, R. Clews, I. Nuttall, D. Charlson, L. Childs (ex-professional), J. Hyde, A. Rostron, S. Mackey and J. Farrimond.

Team two – A. Gredecki, J. Fearick, R. Merga, D. Marsh, S. Marsh, M. Hudspith, J. Birch, P. Cleworth, G. Greenough, I. Pendlebury, S. Dixon and P. Rhoden.