Row erupts between footballers and Littledown centre over pitches

The group of more than 100 footballers has played at the Littledown Centre in Bournemouth every Monday for more than two decades.

However, they were recently told they would no longer be able to hire the pitches at Chaseside, for which they pay £63 each week.

The players now have to swap with the Littledown Junior teams and have been offered a Friday slot instead.

The junior teams, which are run by BHLive and Littledown, would then be moved to a Monday.

But John Ng, one of the footballers that plays on a Monday, said the group is upset that there had been no consultation with them before the decision to move them was made.

“We’re throwing away 20 years of legacy of these pitches that we’ve played on, and always been good payers to them, never complained about the pay hikes they do every year, we’ve just got on and done it,” John said.

“And they’ve just been like ‘see you later guys’.”

John, 42, said they were later told the move is due to ‘operational costs and efficiencies’.

With many of the players having families, John said that moving to a Friday would not work for most of the players.

“We just play,” he said. “We go there, people turn up.

“This isn’t just affecting playing football, this is affecting us always being in a safe space every week we look forward to on a Monday.

“I just don’t think they’ve handled it very well. I think it’s disgusting the way that we’ve been treated.”

A spokesperson for the leisure centre said that they “regularly review” their bookings to make the “best use” of the facilities and get “maximum usage” from the space.

“The decision to move the Littledown Juniors Friday sessions to a Monday evening from September 2023 was based on several factors, including customer feedback and staffing availability,” the spokesperson said.

“We are reaching out to the teams affected to discuss and understand their needs.”