A junior football club from Liversedge are the new tenants of a £1 million sports complex – after 21 years searching for a home ground.

Norristhorpe Junior Football Club, which has 330 boys and girls playing across 35 teams from under 6s to under 18s, have spent their history playing home games on various pitches around the Mirfield area.

Now they have made Warrenside Sports Complex in Bradley their first ever permanent ground.

The chairman of Norristhorpe, Ian Artley, said: “All the teams are under the umbrella of Norristhorpe but they’re dotted about everywhere and there’s not much togetherness.

“Various committee members have looked around for a permanent site over the years but we’ve never found a suitable one.

“Once clubs get facilities like this they don’t give them up. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us.”

Warrenside Sports complex with new owners Norristhorpe FC and Sikh Youth Sports foundation.
Warrenside Sports complex with new owners Norristhorpe FC and Sikh Youth Sports foundation.

Warrenside Sports Complex, which has a clubhouse, bar, two football pitches, a coach’s office and changing rooms for players and officials, cost £1 million when it was built over a decade ago by Huddersfield charity Sikh Youth Sports Foundation.

The foundation was set up to encourage local young people to get involved in sport and it sourced funding from the Football Foundation and Kirklees Council for the construction of Warrenside.

The complex had stood empty for more than a year, however, after its previous tenants, Yorkshire Lions FC, folded in 2016.

In April 2017, the foundation appealed for new tenants through an article in the Examiner.

Tim Bhullar, general secretary of Sikh Youth Sports Foundation, said: “That article really helped. We had a few clubs and organisations get in touch with us interested in using the facilities and one of them, Unita, agreed to play here.”

Unita are a Sheffield-based cleaning company and the firm behind semi-professional football team Ossett Albion FC.

The idea had been to set up an elite academy at Warrenside that would feed into the Ossett Albion first team.

But Unita pulled out at the last minute.

Tim explained: “We even included four people from Unita in the directorship of Sikh Youth Sports. We wanted to do it all properly.

“I just think we were looking to get different things out of the club.

“We learned from that and realised the most important thing was finding a team that had the same values as us, which was all about the grassroots.

“It’s all right having all the glory but the most important thing is we get the kids playing and enjoying playing.

“After that there were a few clubs that wanted to use the facility but we thought Norristhorpe matched what we wanted to do the best.”

Grassroots is at the centre of what Norristhorpe are all about. The ‘Our Ethos’ page on their club website describes their commitment to delivering “long-term player development” for “children of all ages and abilities in a safe, friendly and enjoyable environment.”

Mr Artley explained: “We don’t discriminate on ability, gender, financial status. We’re open to everyone. We don’t care where you come from, we’ll take anyone from everywhere no matter what your background is.

“We’ll make sure the youngest age groups playing on Warrenside and, if we have to, the older ones will play on some of the Mirfield pitches we use now.

“The young ones are the heart and soul of the club – where the club grows.

“If you don’t keep them together and involved then older teams never develop.”

Mr Artley hopes the move to Warrenside will open up income opportunities that could cover the cost of the tenancy and help the club save money in certain areas.

He added: “We’re a non-profit club obviously so we’re trying to keep costs down for kids and parents.

“We’ll be serving cups of tea and sandwiches during matches and training.

”There’s a bar and a 130-seater function room so Christmas parties, presentation nights, these can all be held at the clubhouse now.

“We’re looking for sponsorship as well. It would be on signage around the main pitches.

“We would have all 35 teams having at least one home game there in a week; if all the kids bring one parent that’s 330 people – plus the away team – you’re looking at over 500 people seeing the signs in a week.”

Ian Artley can be contacted on 07901 521705.