YOU might be forgiven for thinking that Jim Howarth was something of a permanent fixture down at Pleasington.

And there might be those who could believe that the long serving fixture secretary is as old as the Blackburn Combination itself!

But if you believed both of the above then you would be just about 50 per cent right.

For while Jim falls some 30 years short of the Combination -- which this year celebrates its centenary -- come wind, rain or shine you'll always find him down at Pleasington on a Saturday afternoon during the football season.

And if recent seasons are anything to go by then it is usually just the wind and rain!

Jim has been fixture secretary of the Combination since 1985, but his association with football spans more than 50 years.

However, most of that has been on the administration side of the game after he hung up his playing boots at the tender age of 19.

But he admits that he has won more medals organising leagues than he probably would ever had done playing in them!

"I wasn't a bad player," recalls Jim. "But I was always more interested in the running of teams and the administration side of things.

"I used to play for the youth club until I was too old. So when the opportunity arose to become secretary our the team I jumped at the chance."

Today, Jim is still involved in the thick of the action, having climbed the administrational ladder from youth club manager to Blackburn Combination fixture secretary.

While he has picked up a lot of friends along the way, Jim's eye for detail and firm approach has also helped him pick up a few enemies.

Not that he particularly minds.

"I remember one Saturday when I was altering the board at Pleasington. One particular team had a bit of a fixture pile-up and I was making sure they got a game.

"Someone said I thought I was God. I told him that when it came to fixtures I was more powerful than God!"

It was back in 1951 that Jim first stepped out of his boots and took over as secretary of St Luke's Youth Club football team.

After a few years, he persuaded the Youth Club vicar to allow the team to join the Blackburn Combination on the strength that he would be manager.

It wasn't the last time Jim was to use his persuasive powers to get what he wanted!

And it did the trick for in St Luke's first season the team won the Livesey Cup.

At the time Jim became firm friends with Dave Garrett who ran the Lions Brewery team. And it wasn't long before the two teams joined forces.

However, a headline error in the Blackburn Times 'St Luke's Brewery Wins Again' caused outrage with the local vicar and again Jim used his persuasive powers to get himself out of trouble.

"The vicar was pretty upset and who could blame him. I told him we were thinking of joining with Lions Brewery and said we were thinking of changing the name of team."

The vicar agreed and what's more so did the league -- the only occasion to Jim's mind that the Combination allowed a team to change in mid-season.

However, it seemed to do the trick as the newly named Witton Athletic climbed from Division Four to Division One under Jim's guidance and in one season scored an incredible 252 goals -- a Combination record to this date.

After a few years in the Darwen Amateur League with Witton Carpets, Jim returned to the Combination with Clifton Athletic.

Again he repeated his trick of winning successive promotions to the top flight and acquired Griffin Park as a home ground -- which is today regarded as one of the best playing surfaces in the borough.

"There were a lot of teams after that pitch but I persuaded the council to give us the lease. When I told them we could not afford the first year's payment they let us off."

Jim put a lot of hard work in to getting Griffin Park up to scratch and after Clifton Athletic folded after 10 years he signed the pitch over to Rovers Youth Aid.

"I would go down their during my dinner time to mown the pitch. I was something of a general dogsbody in those days."

Jim was eventually invited on to the Blackburn Combination committee in 1984 and took up his fixture secretary position a year later. And he has been honoured accordingly for all the hard work he has put in since then -- the most recent a medal from the Lancashire Football Association for 50 years service.

"I do keep threatening to retire and spend more time with the grandchildren but I just can't seem to give it up."