Aberdeen’s 60-year-old adult Sunday amateur football tradition is facing the final whistle according to league bosses – who want talks with Sport Aberdeen over what they view as worsening pitch provision problems.
On Monday, the 14 Aberdeen Sunday Amateur Football League (ASAFL) clubs released a joint social media statement claiming Sport Aberdeen had delivered the “unacceptable” news only one grass pitch would be available to the league on Sundays “for the foreseeable future”.
The ASAFL said “recent throttling of available pitches” across the city has raised the question of whether it is still “feasible” to complete their season.
The situation at both Sport Aberdeen’s larger Sheddocksley and smaller Kaimhill pitch sites has reached a head following a spell of bad weather, as well as vandalism – caused by youths riding electric bikes over the grass.
But, in contrast to the ASAFL’s statement, a Sport Aberdeen spokesperson confirmed to The Press and Journal they expect at least “three or four” of Sheddocksley’s pitches to be back in operation again from this weekend for use by the Sunday amateur sides.
They said: “Some of the outdoor football pitches at Get active @ Sheddocksley were closed last Sunday due to the rain and adverse weather conditions earlier in the week, as well as vandalism including deep tyre marks from electric bikes.
“Sport Aberdeen can confirm that extra pitch inspections will take place on Thursday March 20 with the contract manager from its grounds maintenance contractor.
“With the improved forecast over the next couple of days, Sport Aberdeen anticipates that three or four pitches will be playable this weekend if there is no substantial rain.”
When asked for clarity on Kaimhill in addition to Sheddocksley, Sport Aberdeen added they were “confident all matches will go ahead this weekend unless there’s a major change in the weather”.
‘Every year, there are fewer and fewer pitches available’
Despite an improvement in the pitch picture for this Sunday, Lewis Sharp – boss of one of the ASAFL clubs, Golden Tee FC – says he and his fellow managers remain concerned for the future of adult Sunday amateur football in Aberdeen, which has run continuously since 1965.
Sharp accepts fully-operational Sheddocksley and Kaimhill sites have enough space to accommodate the ASAFL fixture schedule – provided there are no problems created by weather or other issues – and also acknowledges there is “nothing” Sport Aberdeen can do to stop vandalism of their playing surfaces out of hours.
But he thinks recent weeks have shown it was a mistake from Sport Aberdeen to close down their other pitch sites at Inverdee, Hazlehead and Aulton in cost-cutting efforts.
He said: “If there’s not going to be pitches, then our teams aren’t going to be wanting to enter the league, which would mean fewer teams.
“I’ve played in the Sunday leagues for the past 13 years, and every year it seems to be getting that there are fewer and fewer pitches available.
“When I first started you had Inverdee, which was about seven or eight pitches.
“Then you also had Hazlehead, which has now been given away to (juvenile club) West End – who’ve no interest in letting any other teams play there at all.
“Aulton – that’s another place that’s shut down.”
Unlike in the Saturday game, where some clubs have their own private pitches and fixtures can be switched in response to there being no public pitch available, Sunday sides do not have the same luxury, Sharp says.
With their reliance on public pitch provision, he is fearful over completing the current campaign, adding: “We’re coming to the tail-end of the season, where we’ve still got a split like they do in the Scottish Premiership – top half, bottom half, and they play each other again.
“We’ve still got that to happen and then we’ve still got cup games as well.”
Sunday sides want ‘to try to figure something out’ with Sport Aberdeen
While Sport Aberdeen also have artificial pitches which Sunday sides could use, Golden Tee gaffer Sharp says a pitch cost of £200 – compared to £60/£65 for a grass pitch (a pitch fee set to rise by £5) – means playing weekly matches on 3G is “not feasible” .
Staggering kick-off times from the standard 10.30am to allow more teams to use fewer pitches is also a tough sell for Sunday players.
Sharp added: “It’s been discussed, but a lot of people play Sundays because of the time it’s at – it’s 10.30 in the morning kick-offs, and it means you’ve got the rest of your day ahead of you to do whatever you need to do.
“I play Saturdays as well, and once your two o’clock kick-off finishes, your day’s done.”
Sharp and his fellow ASAFL bosses hope Sport Aberdeen chiefs will agree to a sit down “to work together” to find a solution to ensure Sunday amateur football can still continue in the campaigns ahead.
In August, new Sport Aberdeen CEO Keith Heslop told the P&J maintenance costs meant the body were subsidising every game played on one of their football pitches to thr tune of £250 – though he said they still wanted to increase pitch provision.
Sharp said: “We’ve also got costs going up as well. We want to discuss that.
“We want to discuss the reasoning why they’ve shut down pitches – why they’re not being used.
“We kind of want to find a situation where we’re not finding ourselves like we did at the weekend, where there was only one pitch available, but wanting to try and figure something out on how to stop that happening again.”
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