FURTHER to my article last Saturday night testing the pulse of the Bolton amateur soccer scene I received a letter from Gordon Fielding detailing the demise of LAL side Smithills writes John Bullen

In it Gordon says: "Friday, September 21, 2001 saw the end of an era. It was the day players and officials said goodbye to Smithills AFC, formerly known as Old Smithillians."

The reasons that happened are explained by committee man Ian Collings: "We had everything except enough players. We had good kit, equipment, decent facilities and money in the bank. But no players. We had trained for ten weeks and never had more then eight or nine players there and that included myself.

Lack of players

"Even though we had already made the decision that we were dropping from three teams to two this season it was obvious that we still couldn't manage. We had to fold.

"For myself, who played in the first ever LAL game back in 1964, it was particularly sad. Why is it that a club seemingly with everything going for it cannot attract players? Normally it is a lack of resources that causes closure - but not here.

"It is ironic that the cause of the club folding is the reason I got involved in the first place - shortage of players - and over the years it was a problem which was to plague us frequently.

"In 1964 a vaguely familiar voice asked me 'what are you doing next Tuesday night Gordy?' I recognised some old pals I'd not seen since leaving school. They explained to me that they were getting a team together and needed some players. Pausing to watch them play for five minutes or so convinced me it was the right thing to do.

"We started off as 17 or 18 year old kids, some of the team were even still at school, and the LAL entered us into third team football. The following year we were to experience first team open age football and what an experience that was! We never looked back, spending our whole playing careers with the club.

"Now it has all gone and it's so sad. All those players who enjoyed their football with Old Smithillians over the years have much to be grateful for and will have such great memories of the club."

So how is the pulse rate looking on the local scene?

Is the Old Smithillians tragedy another nail in the coffin or does the planned £300,000 development of Newhouse Farm indicate that we are on the threshold of a new golden era?

What do you think?