Decision may mean end of football club

The shocked club has responded, saying its future is on the line, after the council refused to make improvements.

John Lister, who plays for United, said: “We received a letter from Calderdale Council to say that they are condemning the changing rooms at Shelf Hall Park and are not willing to spend any further money on them.

“Shelf have 14 days and then the changing rooms will be boarded up! We’re a team of electricians and plumbers - we could sort the problems out ourselves. It’s probably the best facilities in the league, compared to most of the other clubs.

“Without any changing rooms we simply will not have a football club next year. It’s all a bit of a shock as it was so unexpected.”

Player Robin Hurtley, said: “Its not in that bad of a state, we only use a small part of the building for the changing rooms and we have working showers.

“We have got to move all the goalposts, nets and equipment from the site. It’s important to us to have a football club in Shelf.”

Calderdale Council’s lead for corporate asset and facilities management, Alan Lee, said: “To help deliver significant savings required by the council, we continue to identify land and property which is no longer needed for service delivery.

“The depot at Shelf Hall Park was once occupied by parks services, but has been empty for some time. The building is in a poor state of repair and the attached changing facilities are of a very low standard. Therefore, these buildings have been declared surplus to operational requirements.

“The use of the park is unaffected and use of the pitch by junior teams will remain the same since they do not require changing accommodation. We will work with senior teams who would like to play at the park to find alternative changing facilities, or offer a pitch at one of our other sites with changing rooms.”

The team are to meet next Thursday to discuss the club’s future.