ONE of the great Sunday morning traditions may be under threat in some parts of the country but in Dorset it's alive, well and kicking.

A report published at the weekend reveals that amateur Football is on the decline as a weekend activity across the country.

It appears that men are falling out of love with the beautiful game, preferring to play golf, go shopping, watch the Premiership on television or just have a good old lie-in.

The report by the Observer newspaper found that since 1997 almost one million men have given up the game, and the Football Association admitted that 100,000 men - 20 per cent of the total - stopped playing parks football during the last season.

Officials blame decrepit changing rooms, the trend towards weekend working, saturation coverage of games on TV and the rise in the number of separated parents who are busy with weekend visits to their children.

But while some managers struggle to get even 11 players together for a kick-about, Bournemouth appears to be bucking the national trend and keeping hold of its league status.

John Carter, secretary and commercial manager of Bournemouth Football Association and Bournemouth Hayward football leagues, said there are 6,500 registered players for Saturday and Sunday leagues in the town.

"We have six divisions for Saturday football where other areas are finding it difficult to get enough people out to play 11-a-side football.

"In Bournemouth we do very well," he said.

In the Bournemouth Sunday league there are 11 divisions with 12 teams in most divisions.

"We had to turn five sides away at the start of the season - since then we are four teams short in our divisions."

He added: "We seem to be maintaining our status at the moment, as does Southampton.

"In other areas whole leagues or divisions have gone.

"It is not very often we are chasing sides to turn up and play games.

"Some of the sides we have lost this season have been with us for 30 years but the person running them has struggled to get players and are calling it a day."

He added that Bournemouth receives a great amount of support from sponsors who pay for tournaments and cups, which gives incentives to the players.

Jim Partridge, manager of Homefield FC in Christchurch, said the number of younger players had dwindled in recent years.

"I used to have 18 or 20 players each week, now I am getting half that many. It is the older players who turn up each week - the youngsters just aren't coming through in the same way they did a few years ago.

"One of the main things that has changed in recent years is the emergence of six-a-side Astroturf leagues. A lot of youngsters prefer to play five or six-a-side for 20 or 25 minutes in a Wednesday night and have their weekends free."

First published: November 16