No merger doesn’t mean blackout for Bury football.
Fan-owned Bury AFC are keeping a light shining.
Words: Tom Reed
Photos: Tom Reed
It was a downcast moment as the results of a key merger vote between Bury supporter groups was announced last week.
The ballot itself came from dark times, after Bury FC, formed in 1885, were expelled from the Football League following what the Guardian called a ‘financial collapse’ under Steve Dale.
Two fan groups, working in the context of their old club in administration, had the chance to unite as one, to create something approaching a coherent outfit to play back at the historic Gigg Lane ground in the Greater Manchester town.
Yet, a merger vote involving Shakers Community (who own Bury AFC) and the Bury FC Supporters Society (who have access to Gigg Lane but no active club at present) ended without the supermajority needed to endorse an amalgamation.
The maths show that 94% of the Shakers Community voted for the coming together but just 62.9 % of the Bury FC Supporters Society did likewise, with the BFCSS number falling painfully short of the two-thirds majority needed.
Football in Bury has never had much peace since the Dale days and old wounds quickly reopened after the result was announced.
A video emerged with some distasteful chanting against Bury AFC and some fireworks appearing to be let off in a display, which although technicolour, did little to lift the gloom.
The local council immediately pulled £450,000 of funding which lumped on a financial cost of the no-vote.
Bury AFC, the fan-owned entity formed in 2019 as a D.I.Y response to the stricken state of Bury FC, largely kept their council after the merger vote, despite the backing of the majority of its members.
Daniel Bowerbank, Chair of the Bury FC Supporters Society, spoke to BBC Radio Manchester and confirmed that his organisation will be applying to the Football Association to have a team playing at Gigg Lane next season.
The not insignificant sticking point to BFCSS’s “journey and pathway” potentially being that Bury AFC have a huge head start with a team already playing in the North West Counties League Premier Division.
The community-owned Bury AFC, whose motto is “by the fans, for the fans”, recently played a sold out out FA Cup qualifying match against York City, showing a real appetite for their community owned ethos.
A sell-out for Bury AFC v York City. FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round.
An obvious question is whether Bury can handle two clubs playing in the white and blue and whether one or both of these entities will fall away?
Yet, Bury AFC can be relaxed about the situation as club memberships have increased since the news of the merger vote.
The recent FA Cup match versus York at the ground they share with Radcliffe FC, showcased the beauty of Bury AFC, with generations of Bury fans packing out the compact ground.
Some people may have been put off by a seemingly stubborn reflection of the BFCSS vote results but the the hurt created from Bury FC’s implosion was deep and always going to be felt for a long time.
History shouldn’t be too unkind on two sets of fans who are, ultimately, Bury supporters.
It may well be that BFCSS are simply outrun by a more dynamic and modern operation in Bury AFC, like a rapid young winger, already in motion, against a veteran flat-footed defender.
Fan-owned clubs have the benefit of being community based, therefore being attractive to sponsors with a social responsibility remit and being able to build quick alliances with groups imbedded at the heart of fanbases. Indeed, they are less reliant on outside investors and more agile in making use of expertise from within the fanbase
Who knows where control of Gigg Lane will lie in the years ahead?
A new Bury AFC shirt produced by the smart kit manufacturers Hope and Glory is selling great guns. Fans, players and even the Bury AFC manager Andy Welsh have donated shirts to those less well-off so they don’t miss out, which sums up the sharing spirit of the club.
The sleek kit is a blackout design representing how it’s often darkest before the dawn.
Bury AFC have kept the embers of football going in this football mad town on the river Irwell and that spark could soon turn into a flame.
