The Culcheth Cup has been celebrating exactly what grassroots football should be about: getting people together, enjoying the game and raising support for charity. In a world where professional football can sometimes resemble a billionaires’ board meeting with shin pads, this is the refreshing bit - community clubs, local families and proper village spirit.
Events like this matter in Culcheth because they give young players and volunteers a chance to be part of something bigger than the final score. Football is the excuse, really; the real achievement is neighbours turning up, teams taking part and charitable causes benefiting from all that energy.
That said, community events do not run on goodwill alone, however heroic the volunteers may be. They take organisation, time and people willing to do the unglamorous jobs while everyone else watches the football. Credit is due to those behind the Culcheth Cup for making it happen and ensuring charity remains at the heart of it.
It is a welcome reminder that Culcheth is at its best when it stops arguing about traffic, parking and whose hedge is technically whose, and gets behind a positive local occasion. Football, fundraising and a bit of healthy competition - frankly, that is a far better use of a weekend.