CHEAPER facilities, summer football and extending seasons are just some of the ideas being put forward as amateur football across East Lancashire once again faces up to another backlog of fixtures.

With some teams having not kicked a ball in anger for up to two months, junior and senior leagues across the area are now hundreds of games behind schedule.

It has always been an annual problem but, due to record rain fall in recent months, leagues are now struggling to fulfil fixtures and some are suggesting that cup competitions may have to be cancelled.

While some are in better positions than others, all are facing up to having to cram in matches one way or another - either by playing mid-week matches or extending the season.

Alan Greenwood of the Accrington and District Boys League is all to aware of the problems - and has even suggested swapping to summer football to cope.

"Some teams have not played for eight weeks due to council venues being closed down due to the inclement weather," he said. "It is very frustrating for the teams but, the under sevens to under 10s are playing on 3G pitches at three different venues to keep them active. However we even lost three Saturday's on the 3G pitches due to heavy rain and winds.

"The weather forecast for the next few week sees more rain and some below minus temperatures possibly freezing the already sodden pitches.

"May be something for leagues to consider is summer football but recent requests for information on grass pitches availability looks grim currently."

The Blackburn Sunday League made the unprecedented step of returning a week early from its Christmas break after going two months without fulfilling a full programme of fixtures.

Fixture secretary Bill Maynard says more games could be played on 3G pitches but believes fees are currently too high.

"The Football Association are very supportive of more 3G pitches but let’s be realistic, the cost of playing on these pitches is excessive.

"The pricing structure for these facilities are by the hour and as players grow in age the length of time to play the game grows and here in lies the problem.

"Many of these facilities charge £70 to £80 per hour so for seniors to play a game of football the cost of £140 to £160 is too much; when you consider the clubs have also to pay for referees and kit washes this can take your weekly expenditure to around £170 on average.

"I think it would be better for places with these facilities to work closely with the local leagues so that all these facilities could be used to their maximum potential and by making a more realistic pricing structure we could achieve this.

"The Blackburn Sunday Football league, along with the East Lancashire Alliance, have tried to do this in the past but the pricing structure by the hour is a real killer."

Both Hyndburn leagues, the Accrington Combination and the Harry Dewhurst Memorial League, are suffering a fixture backlog as are those based in Burnley and Pendle based.

The Blackburn Combination has fared better but secretary Bill Markham is taking nothing for granted.

He said: "We haven't been hit as hard as other leagues but with every week that goes by with no football, it only puts more pressure on us to make the difficult decision to start cutting back on cup competitions."

And the East Lancashire League could be forced to extend their 2015-16 campaign if there is no significant improvement in the winter onslaught.

Last month saw the East Lancs programme virtually wiped out, with just three fixtures surviving the flooding in December.

East Lancs League secretary Pete Hargreaves said: “We are playing it by ear at the moment, and just hoping for a break in the weather.

“December was a very bad one, but we’ve faced this situation before and we’ve managed in the past.

“Most of the clubs have their own grounds, but some play on the Nelson and Pendle council pitches, and they close for football at Easter for cricket, so that is a concern."

We all realise that as with all facilities the cost of running them has to be met but lots of these facilities are quiet or not being used at all at weekend when all this football should be played, and lets spare a thought for the clubs these are run by volunteers for people of all genders and denominations the players pay to play the game they love and as the North West is like other parts of the country suffering high unemployment and social deprivation we need to come together to make better use of all of our facilities.