Sponsored by
Soccer talent that got away
Miller Court, Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse. THE news of the threatened imminent closure of Halifax Town came as a crushing blow.
However I feel that if the powers that be had taken more interest in looking on their own doorstep over the years it might well not have come to this.
The untapped talent in the Halifax leagues and West Riding divisions is, for me, an absolute disgrace.
I have been involved in amateur football for Spring Gardens FC for many years and the players who have played for me and against us, I believe, have been overlooked by Halifax Town.
There are just too many to mention but the most famous is Paddy Kenny, once of Halifax Irish FC, now of Sheffield United.
On several occasions Brighouse Town FC has embarrassed Halifax Town, albeit in pre-season friendlies, so why have these players been overlooked, many of whom played their Sunday football in the Halifax leagues? One of them is Andrew Moss, who played for me at Spring Gardens.
Not only would Halifax Town have benefited from having the passion and pride of local lads playing for their local team but I am 100 per cent certain the crowds would have been swelled by local people knowing that the players they were watching were part of their own community.
A great example of this is the Celtic team of 1967 which won the European Cup. All the players lived within a 15 miles of the club.
I sincerely hope that Halifax Town survives at some level but to do so it will have to start to look for players closer to home.
Ian Smith
(Manager, Spring Gardens, 1998-2005)
Email to a friend
Print this page- A58 crash UPDATE: road now re-open after man hit by car earlier this morning
- Crash on the A58 in Halifax this morning UPDATE: Man in hospital with several broken bones
- Taxi worker dies aged 35 after finishing his shift
- Man suffers serious injuries in accident on M62
- How the new Halifax Central Library will look
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
