Frustration over inaction to fix ‘incredibly poor’ state of junior football pitches

A JUNIOR football club has voiced its frustration over inaction to address the ‘incredibly poor’ standard of pitches it plays on.

The plight of youngsters and volunteers at Cromwell Athletic Junior Football Club was raised in the House of Commons in recent months.

Then-Warrington South MP Andy Carter spoke of how the Westbrook club have had to cancel around 70 per cent of games scheduled for grass pitches at Mary Ann Meadows this season due to the ground being ‘unplayable’.

The issue of the pitches is one that has been ongoing for a number of years, with the club in contact with the then-MP and Warrington Borough Council – with virtually no progress made.

It has also been in talks with charitable body Football Foundation, which is very keen to assist and has visited Mary Ann Meadows to see the state of pitches for itself.

Ste Davies, chair at Cromwell Athletic JFC, told the Warrington Guardian: “The council committed to doing a survey of the pitches in May and come back with indicative results in early June, but as of now, we have heard nothing back and have had no response to the multiple e-mails sent.

“Since the election was called, momentum seems to have been lost entirely, which has been the case whenever action has been on the council side over the last few years.

“In addition, I have met with the FA and sourced other funding opportunities which we can only take advantage of if we had a longer term lease on Mary Ann Meadows than the current year-to-year agreement.

Cromwell Athletic Junior Football Club play at Mary Ann Meadows in Westbrook

“The council has continually said that it can do this for us, but nothing has been actioned, despite us asking for around two years.

“The upshot is that more than 170 out of 250 scheduled games on Mary Ann Meadows were cancelled last season between September and April.

“As it looks like no remedial work will take place over this summer, we can expect the same again.”

Cromwell Athletic has 27 teams and 300 children and young adults signed up, aged five to 18, and it is also putting in place an open age ladies’ team for the forthcoming season.

“We have around 80 volunteers, from managers to coaches and the committee, all of whom are absolutely willing and able to give up their time in order to help develop the children,” Ste continued.

“Not just with regards to football, but in terms of vital life skills such as teamwork, discipline and having an active lifestyle. All we are missing is the facilities on which to do this.

“We are very strict on the edict of 'football for all'. We never trial players, we never judge on ability and we never turn a child away. Most other clubs do have some element of this.

“The reason this is important is because if we do not get a resolution to the pitch issues soon, we risk losing players to other clubs, and ultimately the club dying.

Cromwell Athletic Junior Football Club play at Mary Ann Meadows in Westbrook

“Our young people are continually being frustrated by the incredibly poor quality of Mary Ann Meadows and the complete lack of progress in addressing it.”

The club is ‘very keen’ to emphasise that it is not looking to just sit back and expect the council to do everything.

“We have been very proactive with fundraising, having events such as quiz nights, presentation day events and race nights, in which we raise money for both the club and charities,” Ste added.

“In addition, we are always looking for other funding and grant opportunities such as a recent grant we were successful with from the Omega community fund.

“We have been proactive in looking for solutions and suggested a potential one earlier this year where we would dig holes into the pitches and backfill with gravel to create more drainage.

“We confirmed we were happy to pay for the equipment and plant hire and undertake the work ourselves to trial on one pitch, but we were flatly told by the council that we could not, and nothing is progressing in the meantime.”

The Warrington Guardian approached the council for statement, which arrived after more than a week of waiting.

A spokesman simply said: “We are engaged fully with the football club around Mary Ann Meadows, the proposed improvements, and the timescales."