SHAKERS....BREAKFAST FOOTBALL??

Bury FC 1892
It has been a emotional few days at Bury FC and Bolton FC, as their futures in the English Football League are seriously under threat. Bolton Wanderers FC joined the EFL at its founding in 1888 and came 5th in the first season, whilst Bury FC was founded in 1885 joining Division Two (the only other division at the time) in 1894 won the Second Division at first try, by 9 points, promoting to the First Division. The Shakers held their own until 1911-12 when they came root by 12 points behind a struggling Preston. They were both relegated; Preston fought back to win promotion to the First Division the following season, Bury didn't, but War got in the way and they had to wait until 1923-4 before they won promotion again to Division One. In 1928-9 they were relegated again. In 1956-7 they dived down to the Third Division North, were placed in the new "national" Third Division when it was formed in 1959-60 and won it in 1960-1. In 1966-7 they were relegated again, and came straight back up to Div 2 the next season, only to go down immediately to Div 3 in 1968-9 and down again to Div 4 in 1970-1. Up again in 1973-4 and down again in 1979-80. It goes on, UP and DOWN...that's may be why they kept the nickname. And now truly DOWN??? but nothing to do with playing ability.

New to football is the Breakfast League! Yes, I bet there are lads all over the country who enjoy a bit of footsssy first thing. David Johnson-Rayner at Aylestone Park FC in Leicestershire, has made early morning exercise a little more formal by organising an morning football league for local teams who contain players who have been on a "night shift". Not sure how you police that, but I guess its open to anyone (not working at that time) and the idea is to catch the late night workers at the end of their shift, to get them exercising and to help their sleep pattern after a restorative post match breakfast. Good idea??

There will be facilities available at that time of day at Ayleston FC and local spots, where the hire fee might be cheaper at the earlier start.
It's not full blown football at the moment, but indoor, more like 5-7-a-side, Wednesday mornings, starting in October, 20 minute matches, two matches a day working over 10 weeks.

David has 8 teams registered at the moment playing in the league, an initiative allowing players to get good healthy exercise, a day's sleep and recovery before they get shipped back into the work place later in the day. Mental Health benefits have to be taken into consideration too.

He hopes to roll this out nationally once he declares the Aylestone League experiment a success.

http://aylestoneparkfc.org.uk/v2/home.php
Worth a look at this if you like to see Gary Lineker, a patron, say a few words on  a club video.