A football club fears it may lose the pitch it has played on for 13 years because of problems officials claim they are suffering with a flagship school.

Thackley Sports, formerly Thackley Commercial Football Club, plays on Thorngarth Playing Fields now owned by Immanuel Community College.

But manager Stephen Midgley claimed today that although they needed to affiliate with the league by Wednesday, the college had given no indication whether they could continue on the pitch.

He said the club had suffered no problems when the Council controlled the football pitch, but claimed to have encountered persistent difficulties with Immanuel. Mr Midgley claimed:

l Every Sunday morning the players had to clear the pitch of cans, litter and stones.

l Both teams and the referee were locked out one Sunday morning after the building of a six-foot fence.

l Two games before the end of the season they discovered no pitch markings but a six-lane running track marked out instead.

A game was also cancelled because the concrete footing of the goal post was visible creating danger for the teams.

He added: "When Immanuel arrived it was billed as the flagship school of Bradford, bringing together local communities as other schools closed. Well what has it done for the local community of Thackley?"

He said the club paid the college £200 at the beginning of the season and believed that would include the upkeep and maintenance of the pitch.

"Our season has now finished and our club secretary has made more than eight phone calls to Immanuel to discuss the situation with the pitch for next season. Not one call has been returned. Spare pitches are few and far between in Bradford, so the only Thackley named Sunday morning football team could be forced away from its home for the last 13 years," said Mr Midgley.

Garth Wilson, the school's business manager, said: "At the moment we only have one football pitch. We hope more will come on line in September. It is fully used because of the demand."

He added they would not know the position until the situation with the new pitches was clarified.