2011 - A New Era

This season sees the club commence a new era in its history.  After almost 60 years in the Wetherby League, the last 49 of which being spent by our 1st XI in the 1st division, both our senior and junior sides we will start afresh in the Nidderdale League.

The 1st XI will compete in the 2nd division, the 2nd XI in the 5th division and our juniors in the regional leagues.  The forthcoming fixtures are available to view on the relevant team page.

The Nidderdale League was formed in 1894.  In the first season of the league 6 clubs took part.  Dacre Banks, Hampsthwaite, Birstwith, Glasshouses, Pateley Bridge and Ripley.  The competition commenced in May and within a month there was correspondence in the local press complaining about umpiring decisions, laying rest to any misconceptions that such disputes are of recent origin!

Dacre Banks were the first winners when they defeated Glasshouses in a match at Birstwith in front of 1500 spectators in September.  Amongst those playing in the Dacre Banks side was Willie Sutcliffe, the father of Herbert Sutcliffe, who was born in Summerbridge in November 1894.

Glasshouses have been the predominant team throughout the history of the league, winning the league on 19 occasions and the league knock-out competition 15 times, the latter 9 years in succession from 1946 to 1954.  The nearest club to match this record is Knaresborough Forest with 16 league and 11 cup wins and in more recent times Killinghall have won the league 9 times in 17 years.

The league now extends over a wide geographical area, from Middleham in the north to the outskirts of Otley, Leeds and York.  There are currently 58 teams playing in the league, a list of the grounds, the teams who play there and the postcodes to aid navigation are available to download here.

Despite the changes to the league over the years it still remains essentially a village Cricket league set in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

We are all looking forward to the competition, the new grounds to visit, people to meet and friends to make and hope that all our supporters also enjoy this opportunity.