They think it’s all over . . . and it is now for one of Shropshire’s oldest football leagues.

The Shropshire Alliance League has, in one guise or another, been in existence for more than 60 years, bringing football to parks around the county and inspiring raw, grassroots talent to shoot for Premier League glory.

But with team numbers dwindling – the already ailing Alliance began with 10 clubs last season but early on in the campaign lost two sides in the shape of Cockshutt 08 and Crown Colts and faced the prospect of starting next season with just seven – it was really only a matter of time before the final whistle was blown.

“We have been in decline in terms of numbers over a number of seasons,” says the league’s general secretary Kevin Edge.

“We used to have teams from lots of villages all over the county – Chirbury had a team, Baschurch and Cross Houses.

“Monkmoor and Belvidere had three teams, then there were teams from Harlescott, Sundorne and Meole Brace. . .

“At one point we had three divisions with 12 teams in each division, so we had 36 teams, and it has declined since then really.”

Proposals are now under way to merge the three Saturday leagues in Shropshire – the Alliance, County Premier League and Telford Combination – into one.

Unsurprisingly, with many clubs based at their local pub, the decline in team numbers mirrors the seemingly endless closure of pubs across the county.

Says Kevin: “We had lots of teams that used their local pub as a base, but with pubs closing it means they cannot get the sponsorship – it is a vicious circle.

“And works teams too . . . we used to have Rover and Rolls Royce. I remember we used to have two teams from Rolls Royce and now that’s gone. And we had two teams from the MEB.”

Social clubs were also natural homes for football teams, but as with pub and works’ teams there are fewer around today.

“I used to play for Shelton Hospital football club and the social club there has been demolished,” reflects Kevin.

“It is places like that where you have got a centre for local football clubs, but many of them have gone.”

He says it’s a similar situation for other sports such as bowling, many of which would have called home their local boozer, social club or workplace.

It all adds up to making park football more difficult to organise and fund, says Kevin.

“It is expensive to run football, with the insurance, the kit and the cost of paying for pitches, and we are in the middle of a recession,” he says.

Formed from the mixed fortunes of the West Shropshire and Shrewsbury and District leagues, which were formed in 1945 and 1949 respectively, the Alliance came into being in the mid-1970s when the two leagues were combined.

Membership of the Shrewsbury & District League rose to a peak of 45 clubs dividing into three divisions at one time. However, this declined in the 1970s to a low of 14 clubs.

The West Shropshire League on the other hand was formed at a meeting called by Mr J.H. Jones in the Bath Arms, Minsterley, on September 27, 1949.

The object was to provide competition for the reserve teams in the area and those others who had been unable to gain entry to other local competitions.

Fixtures began within a month with eight clubs taking part. In the 1970s the league reached a peak of 35 clubs in three divisions, before the amalgamation of the two leagues took place.

“We merged them together to form the Shrewsbury and West Shropshire Football League,” explains Kevin.

“But a few years later we had to change the name to the Shropshire Alliance because the clubs were moaning that they could not fit the full name onto a cheque when they had to pay their fines!”

With dozens of teams in the Alliance, the FA must have been making a mint on fines alone.

Philip Thomas, who ran the Crown Colts, was forced to pull out of the league last year due to a lack of players.

“It is sad, such a shame,” he says. “It’s money and players not turning up and work commitments that have taken over.

“We had 45 players signed on but it was a struggle to put 11 out at the weekend.”

He is concerned, too, about the future of park and grassroots football in the county. He says he’s struggling to find a goalkeeper for the team he coaches, the Crown at Column, and that teaching youngsters even the basics can be something of a trial.

“Teaching a kid to catch a ball when some of them cannot tie their shoelaces – and some of them are 11!” says Philip.

Roy Waterfield, chief executive of Shropshire FA, says there had been a decline in park football at the end of the ’90s and the earlier part of the millennium, but through moves implemented by the national governing body the decline plateaued in around 2008.

And he says the number of Saturday teams is in fact likely to grow over forthcoming seasons with Alliance sides joining other leagues.

But there is a fundamental issue in retaining players’ commitments. Years ago players lived and worked in their own communities, holding down Monday to Friday jobs where weekends were set aside for leisure – in many cases for football. But this lifestyle no longer exists, and it’s something the FA is looking at.

“We have got to be receptive to allow playing at different times – for instance using floodlit pitches to allow teams to play during the week,” says Roy.

On the fitness of Sunday league football he says: “We had one or two concerns around it but I have been told that it is likely that there will be no net decrease in the number of Sunday league teams next year.”

But Glen Carson, whose Alliance League Bayston Hill team has disbanded due to a lack of players and money, says he often had to fork out hundreds of pounds out of his own pocket to make ends meet.

He reckons that with insurance costs, pitch and referee fees, plus kit maintenance it costs in the region of £3,000 a year to run a Saturday league team – and many players can no longer commit due to work patterns.

But he says there is hope for Sunday League football, simply because there are so many teams involved that one or two folding will not cause the collapse of the league.

Yes pubs are closing, but Sunday leagues are less affected because there are so many more teams, he says.

“I played for the Six Bells in Ditherington and that team folded and nobody batted an eyelid,” says Glen.

“The Three Fishes folded but it did not affect the league so for Sunday league it’s not so much of a problem.”

But he adds: “Sunday league is going the same way. But for every seven teams that drop out, three start.

“When I started playing Sunday league 12 years ago there were six divisions. There are only five now.”