FA accolade for Rotherham Sunday League
THE Rotherham Sunday Football League has been named as the League of the Year by the County FA.
The competition, established back in 1966, has been bucking the trend of declining participation in adult football and is set to go into the 2024/25 season with more teams than finished the last campaign.
The league also recently earned England Accreditation status for its forward-thinking and its willingness to work with the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA and the local authority.
Leon Dearns, part of the Football Development Team at the County FA, said: “The league have been brilliant, as in previous seasons, but they are now working a lot closer with us.
"They are open to change and are willing to consult with their clubs about what they want. They know they’re not perfect but want to be perfect further down the line.”
The league’s Peter Burton joined fellow members of the committee at Herringthorpe Stadium to celebrate the award.
"I am very pleased and very proud,” he said. “Sunday football has been the cinderella of (grassroots) football for a long time and for us to get this recognition after 58 years, particularly after the work that has gone in in recent years, is fantastic.
"We have a very inclusive committee with very little ego. There’s a first class secretary in Mark Pilley and we’ve reached out to the County FA and tried to move with the times.
"We have got the benefit of it because we seem to be very popular and busy league.”
Press officer Alan Badger said he’d seen the league change for the better in the last 20 years.
“We all pull together, we all have our individual roles and we listen to teams. That’s a big thing,” he said.
"You get a lot of stick when you’re on the committee but you appreciate that people involved give a lot of their free time up.”
Mr Pilley said the County FA had helped a lot in helping the league get England Accreditation, which will see clubs furnished with First Aid kits and footballs.
Fixtures secretary Lol Clarke added: “From 40 years of not winning anything it is nice that we have won something.
"The people involved want to take the Rotherham Sunday League further, not just have football on a Sunday, which is great.”
The 2024/25 season starts in September with more than 60 clubs.