Burnley Sunday Football League chairman calls on town to support grassroots game

Chris Rogers, who took over from John Pilling at the start of the 2021/22 season, said the league, which once boasted four divisions with up to 10 teams competing in each, had seen numbers drastically dwindle in recent years.

"When I took over, which was right in the middle of the pandemic, we were down to just eight teams. John had done a great job, for many years, but the set up was stone age and needed completely revamping. So, last season, I stepped down as manager of the Craven Heifer team, and that has given me more time to focus on the league."

Chris, along with three other committee members, set about restructuring the competition while also forging better relationships with the council in an attempt to gain access to more pitches.

“We now have four pitches at Towneley, and as of last season, two grass pitches back at the Prairie, specifically for our league. I communicate with the council on a weekly basis now, and we are also hoping to get pitches up at Fennyfold back on the roster as well, which will enable us to rotate the use of pitches, and stop the same ones getting cut up in bad weather.”

"To a lot of lads, football is their release and I have spoken to many players who struggled with mental health, especially during the pandemic when there was no football being played at all.

"Grassroots football has always been such an important element of the local community, and we need to do all we can to ensure it is here for generations to come.

"This season we lost four teams, but in turn, gained three new ones. That meant we had a total of 12 teams for the new season, which kicked off on September 10th. We made the decision to move to one division, but still have the separate cup competitions – the Towneley Cup, and the two league cups. We are playing all the league games first and at the end of those games, the league splits in two for the League Cup. This means that teams at the bottom of the league still have a chance of silverware by playing against teams who had suffered similar defeats throughout the season."

The committee managed to raise £1,950 in sponsorship for the first season, but Chris said funds were now running low.

"I have been looking for investment this season, but as of yet, nothing has materialised. I simply wanted a main league sponsor that would get mentioned on our Facebook page, for which I do two posts each week – one for the results, and the other for the up-coming fixtures. The page gets a good response as I trigger all managers to get their player to like the page so I can tag them if they score. It's brilliant exposure for a local company, and it would be great if we could get a few on board."