TWO local soccer leagues have had enough of the bad weather and decided to shut down until January.

Officials of the Bolton Combination and Bolton Sunday League are so fed up of rescheduling fixtures only for them to be called off that they have decided the only way is to postpone the fixtures played on Council pitches and hope the weather improves.

Combination League match secretary Fred Morris announced the bold decision after consultations with Bolton Metro Leisure Services saw parks pitches ruled unfit for play for the sixth weekend in succession.

Says Fred: "We have been fighting a losing battle with the elements for some weeks. It is not likely to improve in the near future so the committee felt we had to take drastic action.

"We would have been finishing in two weeks anyway until after Christmas so all we have done is extend that. What has been happening with all the postponements has necessitated me swapping and changing fixtures as much as two or three times a week.

"By suspending the programme we take the pressure off the people at Leisure Services and give them time, we hope, to be able to do whatever is necessary on the pitches.

"There is so much work for them to do because the fields have just been so wet that they haven't been able to use any equipment on them. People think it's just the rain that is the problem but it's not only that. If the rain stopped now most of the pitches need a lot of work doing on them before they can be used."

"What we will now do is reassess the situation in January but there didn't seem to be any point in soldiering on swapping and changing things on a daily basis."

The Bolton Sunday League has also made the decision to call a halt now to the seemingly futile ritual of issuing fixtures each week. Full playing schedules will now be suspended until Sunday January 7.

Secretary Allan Johnson said: "We agreed straight away with the action the Combination took as it was just common sense for all concerned. Drastic measures were needed to take all the pressure off the Parks Department and give them time to try and arrest the situation.

"We will arrange fixtures for teams with their own pitches or those outside the borough but there will be no attempts to play games on Bolton parks pitches until after the New Year."