IT IS an exciting time for one of the country’s top junior football leagues.

The Bolton, Bury and District Football League continue to produce ideas to try to encourage more participation in the sport and this season looks set to be no different.

Chairman Warren Barlow returns with his weekly column discussing the major developments in the Your Sport supplement.

 

OUR league season started on September 10, when Moss Bank took to the field against Mace in our very first Under-21s game, which took place at Atherton Collieries Alder House ground.

We would like to thank Colls for supporting the league with this and allowing us to stage our first match under lights at this excellent facility.

Further matches are planned to take place here and down the road at Atherton LR’s Crilly Park ground, and we hope to give you more details on how the U21s are progressing as the season unfolds.

The rest of the league started the following Saturday and our new u7s teams, of which 47 have joined the league to date this season, were involved in a wonderful football festival at Bolton Wanderers’ Eddie Davies Academy.

I have to say a huge word of thanks to Bolton Wanderers for making the first weekend for these new players so special.

Some 47 teams of about 350 players aged u7s and 54 teams of about 450 players show the strength of the game at grassroots level in this area.

The BBDFL caters for u7s through to U21s, and currently we have more than 600 teams registered to play in this league, which for a league with a radius of only nine miles from Bolton Town Hall is potentially the highest concentration of teams in the country.

All these teams play their football on a Saturday between 9am and midday, which means over 300 games, with over 8,000 players, about 1,500 coaches and 180 referees take to the field in this three-hour window ever week.

I do smile when people say that grassroots football is in decline and everything is doom and gloom, because we can assure you, this is not the case in the BBDFL area.

- In next week's column, Warren will return to talk about the reasons for their success and also about the future of the Bolton, Bury and District Football League.