Dramatic news from Wetherby via York.

posted by John Winn

I have over the years posted several times about the travails of the Wetherby league and in particular the loss of a number of its member clubs to other leagues. In September 2014 for example I described the exodus of clubs like Spofforth, Great Preston, Whixley and Old Mods and Wetherby to outfields new which at the time left the league with 31 members, 26 of which had LS postcodes. This steady trickle is to become a flood however for in its most recent newsletter the York League reports that 12 of the current membership have successfully applied to join that league from 2020. They are
Barwick, Bilton (second team)*  Church Fenton, Green Hammerton, Hillam and Monk Fryston, Kirk Hammerton, Long Marston, Rufforth, Saxton, Sicklinghall, South Milford and Wetherby(second team)*. In addition  Garforth PC are going to the Pontefract League and will have  teams in Div3 and Div 7. They already know who they will be playing and when for the fixtures were published in November.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this is that there is no mention of it on Wetherby's own website. All remaining clubs have LS postcodes and no doubt in time the league will announce how it plans to deal with the loss of near enough half of its members. In the meantime I would like to wish all our readers Season's Greetings and hope that like me they can draw comfort from the fact that the shortest day is now behind us and by mid January, in the evenings at least, we will begin to notice a difference in the length of days.


* Bilton and Wetherby already have first elevens in the York League. The movement of these clubs will increase the York league by 21 teams. Deputy CEO Steve Berry'is busy compiling the 2019 fixtures and they will be released shortly'.