THE proposal to move Bolton junior football from winter to summer is an exciting prospect for the sport.

It also provides potentially the biggest challenge for local cricket that it has ever faced.

The Bolton, Bury and District Football League is proposing to move from playing throughout the traditional winter months to a March-to-October season with a six-week break for the school summer holidays.

The reason is obvious and understandable – to avoid the constant postponement of matches due to unfit pitches and bad weather.

In summer the kids will be able to play every week on better surfaces, increasing their enjoyment and giving them a greater opportunity to improve their skills.

But what about other sports?

We have run stories in The Bolton News this week and invited comments from people and the only sport which seems to have an issue with it is cricket.

And rightly so. Summer football – which looks almost certain to come in from next year – could see many youngsters faced with a choice between playing the two sports.

If they choose football, as could largely be the case given it is the most popular sport in the country, it could reduce the number playing cricket and have a potentially damaging effect on the future of the game in Bolton.

Let's not underestimate what cricket means to Bolton. It's popularity and quality has always been high.

It was the first town in Lancashire to form an organised league and has been going as such since 1888.

But if there are fewer juniors it follows there will be fewer senior players in 10 years' time and onwards.

A contact of mine who runs a cricket club says summer football could actually be better for cricket.

He says football already overlaps with cricket with rearranged games twice a week which cricket clubs have to work around at short notice.

He says if football match nights are arranged around cricket matches and are organised in advance it would be easier.

Some people in the Bolton Cricket League are concerned, however.

They are not saying anything publicly yet because they believe the issue is too big for them to address alone.

That is because the summer football league has many teams in other towns – especially Bury but also parts of Wigan, Rochdale and Salford – and have passed it on to the Lancashire Cricket Board where it will be discussed by all the region's local cricket leagues at Emirates Old Trafford on Monday.

While summer football could reduce the number of youngsters playing cricket, it could also, of course, prevent some playing football if they are more talented at or prefer cricket.

Some will play both, of course, but that throws up other problems, not least for the parents.

One match night and one training session a week in both sports means four times a week minimum for mum and/or dad to be on hand for driving duty.

These are all things that need to be considered and hopefully all parties will do so at some stage.

It is important to have full discussions between everyone involved to ensure the best outcome for both sports. It's good to talk.