AN OLD B.E.N. ARTICLE FROM A FEW YEARS AGO.

 

Soccer minnows to parade the streets

A JUBILANT football team is planning a Wembley winners-style celebration for their championship victory ... in the Bolton Sunday League third division.

 

Darcy Lever FC will parade the championship trophy through the streets of Bolton - on an open top bus!

The two-hour parade will leave the Lever Bridge Inn, Radcliffe Road, at noon on Sunday and the players reckon that at least one or two fans are expected to cheer them along the route.

 

Striker Craig Maher, of Barnacre Avenue, Breightmet, is Darcy Lever's longest serving player, having turned out for the club throughout its eight-year history.

 

He said: "The team started as an excuse for a kickabout with a few pints afterwards.

"But we always promised that if we ever won the league we would tour the town in an open top bus. "Well, now we have won it. The top deck of the bus will be half-filled with players and their friends, the other half with the contents of the off-licence, and the trophy of course!

 

"They are a good set of lads and we are doing it for the crack. Most of the players live, work and play in Darcy Lever."

 

In preparation for the tour around Bolton, the bus will be decked out with banners, balloons and a whole range of decorations.

 

The bus will greet adoring fans on Radcliffe Road, Long Lane and Bury Road before setting off around the town.

Former bus driver Mark Boardman, who also used to be player-boss at Darcy Lever, organised the bus with Joe Waring, who works for GM Buses.

 

Last year Darcy Lever were runners up in the Third Division League Cup and results have been even better this time round.

 

In addition to the title they knocked a Premier Division side out of the Open Cup.

But the 'double' proved elusive and the team went out of the Third Division League Cup on penalties.

The team is a family affair, three of Craig's brothers play and his dad Des is a former manager and now helps out with the running of the club.

 

Craig, aged 27, quality manager at Bolton Bury Training and Enterprise Council, put the team's success down to fitness and the appointment of a new manager at the start of the campaign who won the league in his first ever season as a boss.

BUT THERE'S A TWIST......

 

How we lost the cup!

A TEAM of local footballers lost a cup - without even kicking a ball!

As reported in the BEN, Darcy Lever Football Club hired an open top bus and toured the town to celebrate winning the Bolton Sunday League Third Division title.

 

In spite of the rain, the two-hour open top parade was a big success, with people waving and drivers pipping their horns.

 

But the cup - worth ??700 - was lost during a lengthy tour of Bolton town centre pubs after the bus trip.

Darcy striker Craig Maher, aged 27, was in town with ex-player Geoff Morris, aged 30, when the cup disappeared.

Craig said: "The cup was being filled with beer and passed around the pub. There were a few lads in there who I used to go to school with and who I used to play football with.

 

"They disappeared with the trophy on their own lap of honour and we were left empty-handed. "I have taken a lot of stick over it!"

 

Next day the lads made a series of anxious phone calls, but were unsuccessful in their quest.

So detective work became necessary the following day.

The lads retraced their steps - and their pints - in all the pubs they had visited on Sunday night.

But the cup had still not turned up when they went back to their local in Darcy Lever.

It was only then that they found out that the cup was safe in another pub.

It had been rescued from a shelf in The Hogshead on Bradshawgate and taken to the Moss Rose in Kearsley!

Craig phoned the Moss Rose and went in a taxi to reclaim the cup.

He explained: "A few of the lads out on Sunday night are regulars at the Moss Rose. "They said the cup had been left on a shelf in The Hogshead. We went there twice and were told that the cup had been taken out of the pub."

 

The cup had been taken from The Hogshead for safe keeping by the landlady at the Moss Rose. Craig continued: "She must have rescued the cup from the Hog's Head and I gave her a big kiss when she gave it back to me!"

 

On a more serious note Geoff said: "We could have been stripped of the title or banned from any league administered by the Lancashire Football Association if the cup had not turned up." Craig added: "The bus tour was absolutely brilliant.

 

"Everyone really enjoyed themselves and the tour went down really well."

do we know any light-fingered types who frequent the Moss Rose?

Darcy were after new players t'other day, given that we can't get enough for a training session most weeks, is it worth training with them Weds night 9-10 at Breightmet and possibly turning out for them if they get really desperate?

Aye, not a bad idea.

What a load of Bull.

 

We nicked it, well one of our lot who knew some of the Darcy Lads did.

 

They were going mental

 

The said culprit now resides in Kent.

 

That were years ago Smiley.

HOW FUNNY WAS THAT NIGHT , I CAN STILL SEE THE FACE OF THE LAD WHO BURST THROUGH THE HOGSHEAD DOORS ON HIS OWN THREATINING 20 OF US , AND ALL THE TIME HE WAS RANTING ON THE CUP WAS ABOVE HIS HEAD ON A SHELF !!!!

 

THE PHRASE LAUGHING MY C0CK OFF SPRINGS TO MIND.

 

WE TOLD HIM IT HAD ALREADY GONE BACK TO THE MOSS ROSE SO HE JUMPED IN A TAXI WENT THERE , STORMED IN THERE AND BASICALLY WAS TOLD WHAT THE FCUK ARE YOU ON !!!!

 

P.S S.T THE ACTUAL CULPRIT LIVES IN FARNWORTH AND NOT IN KENT

 

OH HAPPY DAYS !