Wetherby chairman fights his corner

posted by John Winn

Since my posting 'Whither Wetherby' at the end of September in which I raised the issue of the number of clubs seeking to leave the Wetherby League and the description of this trend by league chairman Zai Ali as a 'blip', the publication of next season's fixtures for The Aire Wharfe has confirmed that Old Mods have joined Whixley and Great Preston in going through the exit door. Old Mods will start life in their new surroundings with a home game on April 18th when Menston will be the visitors.

At an 'All Clubs' meeting of The Wetherby League on October 9th the 'blip' was addressed in the context of the nationwide problem in the decline in the number of people playing cricket using data from the recent ECB Players Survey which shows 7% fewer players and fixtures in 2014. The minutes of this meeting are available at wetherbyleague.co.uk where the reasons for the departure of Whixley, Great Preston and Old Mods are spelt out. The minutes also show that two other clubs have expressed a wish to change leagues with St Chads having made an unsuccessful application to the Aire Wharfe, and Wetherby CC having sought permission to negotiate with at least two other leagues.

Like marriage changing leagues is 'not to be undertaken lightly' especially where it involves giving up years of tradition and healthy rivalries built up with other clubs but the Wetherby questions whether the departing clubs have 'really considered these other leagues properly' and goes on to list the drawbacks of membership of the Nidderdale, Aire Wharfe, and York Senior Leagues. Issues raised include the amount of travelling, lack of umpires, computerised scoring, matches being conceded and the quality of the cricket being played. Surely no club would apply to another league without full knowledge and discussion of these kind of things.

To its credit The Wetherby League does accept it has had a problem with teams conceding, especially second eleven matches and the October 9th meeting discussed how this might be overcome.. A reduction in the number of overs from the current 45 being one suggestion with the possibility that this might be trialled in Div 5 next year. And of course the Wetherby is not alone in suffering a reduction in its membership: my last posting focussed on the same problem on an even larger scale in the Huddersfield Central. Similarly other leagues suffer from the problem, especially towards the end of season, of non fulfilment of fixtures. 

The twitter accounts of the departing clubs speak of 'new adventures' and 'new challenges' and several of those they leave behind wish them well. Perhaps this time next year the blog might conduct a short survey of those who have sought outfields new asking for their reflections on their first season in their new leagues?