FORMER player and referee Tony Scrogham has thrown his weight behind calls for local clubs to return to the Furness Premier League.

Many amateur outfits are struggling to survive due to a lack of players and financial pressures, with changing work shift patterns and rival leisure pursuits resulting in a drop in participation numbers and standards.

Furness Premier League sponsors and respected football servants Dave Staunton and Allan Wilson say drastic action needs to be taken to breathe fresh life into the game at local level.

Premier Tiles boss Staunton and Wilson of the Rifleman’s Garage, believe the best way to combat the problem is for the majority of local teams whose First XIs play in the West Lancs League to exit that competition and return to the FPL.

They argue that the standards in the lower echelons of the West Lancs League have dropped so much that clubs would be better off jumping ship and helping bolster the Furness Premier set-up.

Opinion is divided on the matter, and nothing is likely to happen unless a meeting of clubs is arranged to discuss the issue and take it up with league officials.

Scrogham – one of the co-founders of the Furness Premier League in 1980 – agrees wholeheartedly with Staunton and Wilson, and says he will back any plan to revitalize the league in any way he can.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said the 68-year-old, who played in goal for Glaxo for several seasons before injury forced him to retire. He went on to referee at local level for 20 years, then worked as a referees assessor, and was also chairman of Glaxo FC.

When the first season of the FPL was played in 1980-81, the footballing scene was a lot healthier than it is now. The ‘big three’ of Holker Old Boys, Vickers and Dalton United competed in the West Lancs League, with eleven teams contesting the first FPL season (Millom, Glaxo, Holker reserves, BSC, Vickers reserves, Swarthmoor, Askam, Coniston, Ulverston, Crooklands and Kirkby).

There was also a very competitive North Western League on Saturdays and the thriving Barrow Sunday League. Holker Old Boys reserves won the Furness Premier in its inaugural year, with Millom winning the Glaxo Cup (later to become the Terry Clinton Memorial Trophy). Scrogham’s Glaxo won the league four years running from 1982-83 to 1985-86, and he knows all about the glory days of the FPL.

“We actually formed the Furness Premier League when I was down at Glaxo and it became a great league,” he said.

“Then all of a sudden it changed, with clubs choosing to join the West Lancs and North Lancs League set-ups.

“I was guilty myself, because I thought it was right at the time for Glaxo and Ulverston Rangers to join the West Lancs.

“People keep telling me the West Lancs League is a higher standard. Well it might used to have been, but the standard now is not good.

“We used to have 30-odd training down at Glaxo. Things have changed. Youngsters just don’t want to travel any more.

“They want to be out on a Friday night. They don’t want to be getting up at 10am on a Saturday and travelling to Preston or Blackpool or wherever – getting a good hammering and then coming back again. You’re not going to tell me players are happy when their team is bottom of the league, and they’ve got to go to Todmorden on a Tuesday night with 10 men. What we should do is strengthen the Furness Premier League or form a new local league. Change the name if you want.”

Swarthmoor-based Scrogham is not involved directly in local football any more, other than being a casual observer, but says he would be more than happy to help with any restructuring plans.

“I’m right behind Dave Staunton and Allan Wilson,” he said.

“They have set the ball rolling and I’m right behind it, and if they want to form a committee I will definitely go on it. I would definitely get involved because I was one of the people who founded the Furness Premier League.

“I honestly and truthfully think that it is time the whole structure needs to be looked at.

“It’s not just the playing side that the problem, it’s the financial side as well.

“When I was at Glaxo they were throwing thousands of pounds at us. You got your posts, nets, your kit. You got everything for free. But now you don’t get anything.

“I don’t care whatever anyone says, everyone is struggling in the West Lancs League.

“If you went round all the clubs now and asked them about their finances, I bet they are all in debt, or not far off it.”