Local game very much alive and kicking here

JOY BOYS . . . Heyside's Mick Cummins (left) and Mick Bloor with the Barlow Cup, as John Norbury looks on

THERE has never been any doubt about it - my mantra of Oldham being an amateur football hotbed has been proven once again in a superb 2015-16 season.

Of course, there have been lows as well as highs in the season just finished.

But I honestly believe that the major low this season has been the weather, with lots of rain causing lots of postponements and frustration for players, officials and followers of the local game alike.

RAIN

To quote Springhead Libs manager Jimmy Smith as his side prepared to take on Manchester Swifts in an Oldham Sunday League match: "Why does it always rain on Sundays?"

Of course it wasn't always that way, it just seemed so after a lengthy period of cancellations due to waterlogged pitches.

Although Smith's side narrowly missed out on a league and shield double, Smith himself has been named as First Division secretary of the year and the club has won the league's sportsmanship trophy.

Anyway, that's the lows out of the way, so let's concentrate on some of the good stuff that happened during the course of the campaign.

First of all, let's salute the massive achievement of Limeside King George who, under the stewardship of Warren Berry, John Bond and Steve McKenna, became only the third side in the history of the Oldham Sunday League to claim quadruple success.

If there were awards for team of the year, then there would be many nominations.

And just to prove that Oldham is tops, consider the title successes of Failsworth Dynamos and Oldham Hulmeians in the Lancashire Amateur League Premier and First Division respectively.

Or the fact that Royton Town and Springhead - despite a miserable campaign for Uppermill - finished in second and third place respectively in the Premier Division of the FBT Manchester League.

Town were also finalists in the Lancashire FA Amateur Shield - the word was out even then that manager Mark (Tank) Howard would be leaving the club to join Chadderton in the North West Counties League.

In their first season in Division One of the Huddersfield League, Heyside finished in a highly-creditable third place and were also Barlow Cup winners.

The Oldham Sunday League staged all of its finals at Chadderton FC despite the desire to stage its Challenge Cup showpiece at Sports Direct.com Park.

But all of the finals were a massive success thanks not only to the hospitality of the Chadderton club itself - and also the good weather - but also for a memorable goal in the First Division Shield Final by Royton Athletic's Jamie Clark which would be a contender for the goal of the season.

The many former footballers and officials who have now hung up their boots and paperwork do, I know for sure, have many happy memories of amateur football in Oldham.

The myriad junior clubs that continue to thrive will have great memories to come.

But the best achievements are by those clubs that have stayed the course and there are many of them - here is just one example.

Conceived by Gordon Schofield, Malcolm Keast and Malcolm Carr in the spring of 1983 and born into the Oldham Amateur League on September 10 of the same year, Korverton United - now Oldham Victoria - have stayed the course and are a credit to amateur football in Oldham, plying their trade these days in the Lancashire and Cheshire League, where they have enjoyed their best season for years.

Looking forward, the 2016-17 season sees Heyside in the First Division of the Manchester League - Geoff Howard has a record of success and with the back-room backing of John Norbury and Mick Cummins, a pair who have been to the moon and back with the club, are sure to give a good account of themselves at a higher level of football.

MILESTONES

There are hugely significant milestones too in the year ahead - the Oldham Sunday League prepares for its 50th season and the grand old lady that is Chadderton Football Club turns 70.

And finally, these few excerpts from a foreword from then Oldham Athletic manager Joe Royle in the early-1980s for a book I wrote about amateur football in Oldham (still to be published).

"My own home town of Liverpool has always had thriving amateur leagues; Oldham's set-up, bearing in mind the size of the town, is every bit as impressive.

"The amateur soccer player is enthusiastic, weather-beaten and hardy, he is also fortunate to play at a level which is well organised and publicised.

"While players and officials at amateur level continue to give their all, professional soccer can only prosper."

Ever the case...