Grassroots football champions in Southport have called for better pitches and facilities for local players.
New figures have revealed that Sefton has a shortage of thirteen 3G football pitches, with a new Outdoor Sports Strategy due before Sefton Council’s Cabinet meeting this Thursday (27th July 2023).
The Strategy also identifies 20 priority sites for football grass pitch improvements, mostly Sefton Council pitch sites, and a number of sites for improved ancillary facilities.
Every weekend sees 147 local football clubs supporting 645 teams, mostly playing on grass pitches but with a small but increasing number of full size 3G football pitches in the last couple of years.
There is a real drive to grow numbers, particularly for women’s and junior teams to improve people’s health and promote inclusion.
To do that, our area needs better quality pitches and facilities.
Sefton Council hopes that its new Strategy can help to protect existing pitches and make a case to attract new external funding from national sports bodies.
Local football managers and players say greater funding is much needed.
Phil Barton has been a grassroots football manager in Southport for the last 15 years through all age groups. He said:
“There have been no changes to facilities for football in Southport in the past 50 years.
“Grass roots football is declining in Southport while surrounding towns and certainly Liverpool have an abundance of 3G pitches.
“I’ve been a manager for the last 15 years through all age groups. I am now manager at senior level in the Premier mid Lancs league with Southport and Ainsdale Amateurs, a club close to my heart.
“I played football all my adult life at a decent level in between a professional kickboxing career. “In all my years associated with the grass roots, there has been no change to any pitches to my knowledge and most council pitches such as Meols Park, Carr Lane, Portland Street, to name a few are like playing on a ploughed field with below standard changing and showers.
“The private pitches such as Southport Trinity (The Rookery), Southport & Ainsdale, Bankfield Lane and Fleetwood Hesketh offer the best playing surfaces but they are all private.
“Travelling throughout Lancashire in the league we play in now just shows how far behind Southport has fallen in this department.
“I’ve highlighted this as a problem for 20 years when I first wrote for the Southport Visiter and more recently when I hosted a sports show on Mighty FM.
“Currently we are preparing for pre-season. We are finding it difficult to get pitch hire to play pre-season friendly games, having to utilise places such as Edge Hill College in Ormskirk and Leyland Lancashire County FA.
“These problems you will hear time and time again when speaking with anyone involved with local football in Southport.”
Gary Keane the Manager of Southport & Ainsdale Sunday Reserves said:
“There is a total lack of investment in any grass pitches or changing facilities all across the Southport area, whilst teams playing on substandard council pitches are being charged extortionate fees for the privilege.
“Changing rooms haven’t been updated since I played in the area in the early 1990s.
“Now I am a manager of a Sunday league team, I have witnessed the demise in the amount of Sunday teams, with teams leaving the local league to play in surrounding leagues on better pitches with better facilities.
“I believe if nothing changes soon then the Sunday league will go the same way as the local Saturday leagues and become a distant memory!”
Mark Barton, Manager of Southport & Ainsdale Under 13s, said:
“There are 3G and 4G football facilities I know of in Southport at Dunes Leisure Centre, Ainsdale Sports Club and KGV Sixth Form College.
“All three are all aimed at small-sided matches and space is the biggest issue.
“There are so many clubs / teams who would benefit from an up-to-date full scale 4G football facility in Southport.
“I currently coach a group who will be in Year 8 come September and at the moment we have nowhere to train over the winter as there’s simply nowhere available for a group of 15 lads to safely train for an hour once or twice a week.
“Summertime friendlies are an issue at the moment as again all council pitches seem to have declined or shut down during the summer period.
“This forces us to go out of Southport to Liverpool, Manchester or Ormskirk for any type of football over summer.
“I am just one of probably 100 grassroots coaches in Southport who could give similar feedback. “I hope that we can see some sort of plan for the future as if the decline continues I worry there won’t be any grassroots football in Southport by the end of the decade.”
Rob Mace Southport & Ainsdale Amateurs FC Under 11s Manager Rob Mace said:
“I have only been involved with grassroots football in Southport for a short time, but it’s clear to see that the size, availability and cost of facilities in Southport is extremely poor at best.
“The simple fact is, investment is needed – and it’s needed quickly! Otherwise, the participation levels amongst our young footballers will inevitably decline.
“Having coached outside of the UK in the past, many other countries have a very different model. Facilities are based on a “per head of population” calculation and any junior team or club affiliated with their national FA are able to use them free of charge or at a heavily subsidised cost.
“Furthermore, they are given priority over private bookings in terms of peak days and times.
“However, as I say, this requires financial investment – but it is more than that.
“It is an investment in our youngsters; their wellbeing, their development as young adults, their social skills, their physical health, their mental health, their future.
“We are all volunteers who love coaching youngsters who all love playing football – give us the tools to do the job!”
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