Stalwarts who kept soccer league afloat

AMATEUR FOOTBALL:

THE demise of the Ashton and District Sunday Football League after 51 years was expected for a long time.

Its passing, however, should be seen not as a lingering death, rather a lingering life.

A rapid decline over the last decade meant that the writing was always on the wall for the league, which was founded in 1959 by the late T A Randall.

But a band of devoted individuals strove to keep the league together and with its own identity, rejecting offers of support from the Oldham Sunday League which could have led to a merger.

The first winners of the Ashton Sunday League were Hare and Hounds, followed by teams such as Craven Heifer, Ryecroft, Theatre and Concert, Lord Napier and Oxford Club.

As the numbers of Oldham sides entering the league grew steadily, Hollinwood-based Filho FC became league champions in 1968.

The late-60s was very much a golden age for amateur football, with local playing fields packed to the rafters with teams and officials every weekend.

Other Oldham-based sides in the league included Chadderton Reform Club, Oldham GPO, Bardsley, Boundary, Copster Villa, Hollins, Greenfield CC and Westwood - even the Oldham Chronicle had a football team.

Overseeing all this were the likes of league management members Vic Marsden, Jim Bennett and Alun Jones.

By the time the league's 25th anniversary came along, a total of 31 sides battled for honours in three divisions.

This figure remained quite stable for the next 10 to 15 years, but an alarming decline in numbers, which also affected other leagues, was blamed on poor facilities and the advent of Sky television and its football coverage at traditional amateur soccer kick-off times.

In a 25th anniversary celebration brochure, league president Vic Marsden wrote: “May I wish you all a very good evening on this celebratory occasion.

“Here's hoping we can meet again in another 25 years.”

Those who were still around did indeed meet up to celebrate a half-century of Ashton Sunday League football.

But I think most knew that the league would not last much longer and a total of just eight teams in its final campaign was the death knell for a once proud institution.