More clubs moving leagues

posted by John Winn

In a recent posting I referred to the movement of St Chad's I and II from the Wetherby League to the Aire-Wharfe. This inward movement has however been more than off set by departures, Illingworth CC, the only club in the A-W with a Halifax postcode, are going to where their address suggests they ought to be, viz the Halifax League, a league where they last played 96 years ago. Based three miles north of the town the club was established in 1884. It was with some sadness that, back in September the club played its last game in the AWSCL on the picturesque ground at Follifoot near Harrogate. Speaking to the Halifax Courier in January, Illingworth President Andrew Smith said that the decision to apply to move had been approved by a vast majority of the club's players. Illingworth will be very much at the centre of things in the HCL and they felt that they would prefer the 45 over game, a format to which the HCL is very much committed.

Illingworth were founder members of the Halifax Parish League in 1914, the Parish was dropped in 1926, but left to join the Yorkshire Council in 1920. Their  entry into the Halifax League along with the clubs joining from the Huddersfield Central will boost membership but any satisfaction arising from this has been tempered by the very recent news of the resignation of Old Crossleyans CC which has been accepted by the league executive. A report in The Courier speaks of friction within the 'Old Crocs' and the resignation en bloc of the committee.

Illingworth CC

Also on the move from the Aire Wharfe are Upper Wharfedale CC. A report in this week's Harrogate Advertiser says that 'following a difficult couple of years where the club has struggled to field two teams' 2107 will see them in Division 8 of The Nidderdale league. Initially the Grassington based outfit will field just one side in the lowest tier of their new home. UWCC Chairman Jon Slater expressed the club's delight at the readiness with which the Nidderdale League has accepted their application. If my calculations are correct their longest journey will take them from the Upper Wharfe to the Lower Ure, a distance of about 40 miles. Their local derby will be with Dacre Banks II, just a fifteen mile trip.

Upper Wharfedale


A number of leagues are holding their AGMs this month and it is expected that some of the changes I have described in recent postings will be confirmed at these meetings and other changes may become known. Expect a further posting on this topic when there is more definite news.