A JUNIOR soccer team from Whitefield has been crippled by a bizarre series of injuries where five players have suffered broken bones.

Members of Stand Athletic U-16s have been hit with a catalogue of unfortunate mishaps on the pitch including two broken legs, a broken arm, a broken nose, and a broken toe.

Teenagers have also been ruled out with back problems, cartilage trouble, and torn ligaments, a crisis which would have tested the resources of any professional club!

The injury list is now so long the team manager does not know whether the side can finish the season, even though there are only four games left.

Manager Kevin Kershaw (44), of Whitefield, said ruefully: "We have had a catalogue of breaks to the point where the team is decimated.

"I have been running junior teams for eight or nine years and in all that time I have never had so much as a broken leg. Now, we have our own bed at the hospital. This must be pay-back time,"

Kevin, whose lads train at Castlebrook High School, said it had been "horrendous" from the start of the season and last Sunday (March 28) they forfeited a quarter final match in the Bury and Radcliffe Junior League Cup due to lack of players.

He said: "We were supposed to play against Drinkwater Warriors but we couldn't raise a team. The FA rules state we can play with seven lads but I'm not putting seven lads out there against 11 when they are pushed to the limit at full strength.

"In the past few weeks we have been playing with eight lads and in one game alone, my son Stephen broke his nose, we had a broken leg, broken toe and another suffered back problems."

Although all the injuries have occurred on the pitch, Kevin stressed that they were not as a result of any rough play and put it down to rapid growth spurts.

He added: "Most of the team are about 6ft 2ins tall and they have grown so rapidly, I think their bones must still be weak. Many of the injured lads are now out completely for the rest of the season and I am running out of players.

"We're not the best players in the world but it's fun for the lads and we usually finish mid-way in the league or in the top four. This year we are second from the bottom. The boys want to finish the games, but I really don't know if we can carry on. It's like the walking wounded!"