A STORM is brewing over Bury Council's decision not to extend the football season an extra two weeks.

Council officials have decreed that goalposts on all local authority pitches will come up after matches played on Sunday, May 2.

And that spells trouble for local amateur leagues already suffering from a massive backlog of fixtures due to one of the wettest winters on record.

Secretary of the Bury Sunday League, Colin Macklin fumed: "It's a disgrace, if the council doesn't do something our season is going to end in a farce, and this involves all local leagues not just our own.

"We asked for a fortnight's extension and thought there would be no problem, but this decision has thrown us into chaos.

"We already have fixtures planned up to May 19 and that's if there are no more postponements!"

To add insult to injury neighbouring councils Rochdale, Salford, Oldham, Wigan, Manchester Stockport and Tameside have all extended their seasons by anything from two to five weeks.

The Bury Sunday League were due to hold a meeting last night when it looked certain that their League Cup competition would have to be scrapped. "I find it a bit hard to swallow that other councils in the Greater Manchester area are helping the local soccer leagues out while Bury can't," added Macklin

"Teams in Bury pay more for their facilities than any other town in the area but aren't getting anything more for the extra money.

"Even clubs who use self-managed pitches have been told if they are caught playing games after May 2 they could be taken away from them.

"We have even offered to kick of next season two weeks later to allow the council to make repairs to the pitches," he added.

While the local authority agree the local leagues have a point they believe they are in a Catch-22 situation and would be struggling to get much-needed remedial work done in time for next season.

A council spokesman said: "We sympathise with the clubs but must stick to our May 2 closure date.

"With the exception of only a couple of councils, others in Greater Manchester normally close in mid-April, and this has given them greater leeway this year to extend their closure into May.

"If we do not close as scheduled we would not be able to open our pitches in mid-August, which is again earlier than the other councils who do not normally have them ready until the beginning of September."

Bury Sunday League officials are to discuss the possibility of asking the local authority for a refund at their next management meeting on Thursday, April 1.

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