I coach the U15s and the new U7s at Burtonwood and at the U7s we have twelve Warrington supporting kids and only one Saints lad. Ten years or go or more and this would have been the other way around.

Mind you I am taking my middle lad out of Warrington to play down at Blackbrook so it is not all one way traffic.

this thread doesnt even make sense, burtonwood is in warrington anyway but is nearer to st helens town centre than warrington.

your bound to get some saints fans there eitherway, get over it.

on another note, good to see wires however if the saints fans were glory hunters when they were winning what about the wire fans that have emerged now eh ?

get over it

True it is nearer to Saints town centre but is in Warrington borough, you could say the same about Penketh being nearer to Widnes than Warrington.

The fact is Wire are claiming more fans, which means our support base is growing by the year and hence the reason for stadium expansion.

What part doesn't make sense? When I was at Sankey High all the lads from Burtonwood supported Saints, and you rarely saw a Wire shirt up there. Past few times I have driven past the playing field there has been loads of kids in Warrington shirts, and that is a good thing to see. QED.

Who was that chap who used to come on here, post absolute tosh, hack people off with said tosh, and then eventually got himself banned??.....Wasn't he a Burtonwood chap too??....Do you know him Raymond??...

how can Penketh be nearer to Widnes than Warrington, when it is in Warrington???

Means nothing, Burtonwood is in Warrington but is closer to St Helens town centre than Warrington town centre.

I moved to Burtonwood a few years ago and was initially surprised that it is dominated by St Helens fans. I play for the open age rugby team and probably about 75% of my team mates are St Helens fans.

That isn't typical at the Bulldogs youth and junior though. Interesting to see if the village can support the Bridge team and the new open age Bulldogs team.

Have you mastered the banjo yet, citywolf?

Ha ha, not yet.

Still have all my fingers at the minute too.

Personally I don't think they can. The Bridge was struggling last year and we don't appear to be gaining any new players for next season. Have lost 1 or 2 through retirement. I'm only playing next year as really don't want to see them short.

It's a shame the 2 committees couldn't come to an agreement and merge, not sure what went wrong.

Question on the bulldogs. If they are stepping up into Open age, where are they going to get the more experience players from? Probs not within the village as the bridge have the majority.

Why oh why has such a little village now got 2 teams? Mark_m any key reasons why no merger took place?

The lads at Burtonwood Bridge have all been brainwashed at a young age by their former Saints player coach!

The Bulldogs are wazza through and through look at the Evans brothers as an example.

The Evans brothers who were brought to Burtonwood by Warrington? Any proof they were wazza through and through when living in Wales?

You leave Uncle Roy alone

Brainwashing has nothing to do with it. Try loyalty.

I only joined 4 seasons ago but wouldn't want to play anywhere else. The lads were fantastic from day one. And for a small club they certainly do their fair share of touring, Canada, America and Brugen to name but three.

Roy may be stubborn at times but he genuinely loves the club and wants it to succeed.

I've no idea why the two clubs never merged and think it's a shame.

there lies the problem you can either be a pub team who are only interested on going on tour each year or have a bit of ambition and put all the effort into climbing up the divisions and entering all cup competitions.

think you will find the bulldogs will be supporting one open age team shortly, and it wont be named after a pub

But that isn't the problem at all, unfortunately you've completely missed the point.

Burtonwood is a small village on the out skirts of Warrington. At open age it's difficult to attract players for various reasons. Lack of facilities, travelling distances, larger and more established clubs centrally located around Warrington etc.....

We have a very small squad of players, take into account injuries, players working and other reasons people aren't available on a Saturday and that small squad suddenly dwindles to a bare 13 players or less.

Yeah not bad for a hillbilly village are we!! Having two teams is a massive achievement, not long ago we had a Union team too!

If I was twenty years younger you would have a top class full back who never drops a ball and can drop a goal from the halfway line!

but doesnt play in cold weather!!

Such a shame they couldn't merge. One club with a potential first and second team would have been fantastic.
As it is I can see the Bridge folding and a couple of the players heading to the bull dogs.

Isn't Saints new stadium in Burtonwood?

Me neither, it was all set up and then suddenly died at the last minute.

It is generally harder for open age teams to thrive with playing numbers if they don't have a youth section feeding the main squad.

Sadly you seem to think you know more than you do, I have only good things to say about the Bulldogs, they have a cracking set up, some quality coaches and some enthusiastic youngsters.

But at the end of the day they were started by the Bridge, the only reason they are not a combined club is due to politics.

Sadly herein lies the problem and it simply comes down to 2 committees not wanting to give the other the edge so to speak!

And yes it is as stupid as it sounds, Burtonwood is a very small place, absolutely no adequate facilities (We dont even have 2 proper changing rooms!) at all and would never ever support 2 open age teams, and no longer will after the Coach of the open age Bulldogs took over the Bridge open age.

The only Reason he has moved is to hopefully allow the "Clubs" to come closer and the fact that the Bridge are already established so to speak.

For me there is no reason why the clubs aren't joined, the Bulldogs have Clubmark gold which is a tremendous achievement and the bridge have the experience (Next season is our 25th year) so we must have done something right.

Hopefully over the next couple of months heads will be banged together and the clubs can get by the politics and create a future for the clubs.

If I can be of a service I have been formally trained as mediator.