Their league has its ups and downs but Dave and Doreen still keep the faith

Still they say prayers before kick-off. Still some have Bible readings or what might elsewhere be called thought for the day, still it’s possible for even the best players to be dropped for not being good enough.

Still organisers David and Doreen Wills believe that Jesus saves, and without recourse to the familiar codicil that Keegan scores from the rebound.

Most remarkably of all, in a generation when all manner of Saturday leagues in the North-East have fallen by the wayside – as the Parable of the Sower would have had it – the Christian Fellowship still has 626 registered players with 22 teams in two divisions, spread across the region. In 2006 there were 32 teams in three divisions, so busy that they had to get a second telephone for their home in north Newcastle.

There are left footers and right footers, Methodists and Pentecostals, Saints and (no doubt) sinners, too. Mighty Oaks are in Morpeth, Samba in Sunderland, Emmanuel Church in Durham and Influence Corinthians in Richmond, North Yorkshire. Jeff Brown, familiar on BBC Look North, played for Jesmond Parish Church.

Hope Church is also in Sunderland. Despite a gloomy record – 16 games and 16 defeats, 11 scored and 99 conceded – Hope still springs eternal. “They’re lovely lads, really enjoy it,” says Dave. “It’s what the league should be all about.”

DAVE, now 62, formed the league after hearing a sermon at Bethshan Church in Newcastle which he felt challenged him to do something for the menfolk. He wanted to change their lives, he says.

He was Bethshan’s centre forward and top scorer, became the goalkeeper, is now a referee but still tries to play part of one game every season for St Charles’s Roman Catholic church in Gosforth, where he’s associate manager.

It grew from astroturf friendlies, soon embracing teams like Crossroads Crusaders, Stranton Saints from Hartlepool and Our Lady of Lourdes from Chopwell.

Doreen became actively involved despite admitting that she can’t stand football. “To be honest this league has enriched our lives,” she says. “It’s a vibrant place to be.”

The original constitution demanded that the manager, captain and at least five players on the field at any time should attend the church identified through the team name.

The tenth anniversary brochure included a familiar verse from Philippians: “I press on towards the goal to win the prize.”

Now only the manager need be a church member, though the first paragraph of the constitution has an unchanging message: “To provide churches in the North-East of England with outreach opportunities through football.”

Dave admits there are difficulties. Sometimes, as the phrase goes, the swearing’s like God bless you. In a 25th anniversary letter to clubs he wrote that he was regularly abused by players swearing at him or questioning his integrity.

“It appals me,” he said in the letter. “That sort of behaviour is unacceptable and brings the whole league into disrepute. It most certainly does not reflect the attitude I expect of anyone connected with this league.”

Sometimes, he confesses, he’s been tempted metaphorically to take his ball home. “You get weekends when reports suggest that the constitution of the league is going out of the window but there are other times when you realise that men are being turned around through football and that can bring a tear to the eye.

“The manager has to be strong. If someone isn’t abiding by the constitution of the league he has to be big enough not to play him.

“I accept that if someone comes in with his studs showing and catches you on the ankle you aren’t going to say ‘Oh, my goodness’. There are times when people will swear, there’s sin in all of us, but I don’t want anyone to forget that this is a Christian league. We’re not purely about football; it’s an evangelical tool and I believe that it has worked.”

Among the teams he considers pretty exemplary are St John’s in Snods Edge – a gloriously named hamlet near Consett which may barely have 11 residents – and Young Asian Voices, based on Wearside.

Young Asian Voices don’t swear at all.

DOREEN helps with the administration, doesn’t attend matches, feels like she knows the players, nonetheless, and is given to comparisons between the league and a growing child.

“When we get to our 18th birthday it was like a turning point. We had one or two difficult teams, like terrible teens, but we didn’t want to lose the vision of what the league stood for. It’s not just about football, it doesn’t stop after 90 minutes on a Saturday morning.

“I had breast cancer a couple of years ago and the amount of prayers and cards was amazing. We’ve been to weddings, baptisms, all sorts through this league.”

Presentation evenings used to be at the Lancastrian Suite in Dunston. “The bouncers used to really look forward to it. They knew they could have a sit down with no hint of trouble.

“You do sometimes wonder where football is going. What about this spitting? There used to be notices about it on the buses, but you thought people had stopped doing it.

“We don’t want to say to people that they can only play if they go to church, but we hope that they will pick something up through it, perhaps realise that Christian people aren’t oddities and that God can do wonderful things.

“There are some rough diamonds, but we feel that it’s worth taking risks. There are young men who’ve come to Jesus through football. That’s absolutely thrilling, isn’t it?”

THEY hope that the principal guest at the 125th anniversary dinner on May 23 will be Derby County and former England manager Steve McClaren, a practising Christian who attends a church in Darlington.

Previous guests have included triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, who brought his Olympic gold medal, rugby player Inga Tuigamala – persuaded to do the haka while still booted and suited – and former Newcastle and Chelsea footballer Gavin Peacock, also a committed Christian. “It felt like Santa Claus had come when Gavin walked into the room,” says Doreen.

They also had former Sunderland captain Kevin Ball, who’s been known to swear once or twice. “He didn’t that night. We were very blessed,” says Doreen.

Even if he were no longer around, Dave expects that the league would continue. “I pray that men’s lives are being changed and souls saved. I don’t want to lose that element of it.

“I want football to be like it was when we were kids, picking sides and putting coats down. They were lovely times. I want it to be fun.”