A LONG-RUNNING football club’s future hangs in the balance as the chairman fears it won’t survive the lockdown.

Coleshill United FC has played matches near Highworth for more than 50 years.

But the double blow of pitch flooding and coronavirus restrictions could mean the game is up for good.

The club currently does not have a team, so chairman Ian Stonham has rented the pitch out to three other teams while looking for new players.

No-one has been able to play at all since October because of flooding. Then, when the waterlogged pitch finally dried out in March, the lockdown came into force and all matches were cancelled.

Mr Stonham, known as Harry, has been with the club since he joined its Sunday side as an 18-year-old in 1967, just two years after Des Williams reformed it in 1965. Now he’s pondering whether its future is financially feasible.

The 71-year-old said: “It’s been limping along with me as a one-man band, which is a lonely job with no committee to help me.

“I’m desperate to keep it going because if I stop, it’ll be gone for good. But there’s been no income for months. It’s very sad, sometimes I wonder why I do it.

“I had hoped that someone would come forward to rejuvenate the club, maybe a former player saying that his child wanted to play. Then he’d bring his mates and we’d have a team again, that’s all it would take.

“But this hasn’t happened, which is a shame. Then there was this dreadful season, so I began to think that it would be best to just close the club down and say thanks for the memories.

“This is a huge dilemma. I feel a lot of responsibility for the club but I’m not getting any younger. I’m paying over £100 to have the pitch cut in the summer and will have to pay £700 to cover pitch rental at the end of the year.

“The club itself has a bit of money but lost more than £600 last year and can’t afford to do that again.

“I’ve decided to defer my decision for a couple of months and keep the club open until we know when local football will return. Hopefully it’s sometime this year. But I can’t see that happening and if it doesn’t finances will dictate that I have to shut up shop.”

At its peak in the early 2000s, the club was running seven teams - three Saturday sides, a Sunday team, and three junior teams.

More than 80 former players came to a reunion in December 2017 and celebrated the club’s 50th anniversary. Mr Stonham became chairman in 1986 and continued to play for the club until he hurt his knee in 2013. Anyone who would like to join Coleshill United FC should call 01367 241673 or email cufc@btopenworld.com