Yorkshire; in a League of its Own

I am not a born and bred Yorkshire Man. I admit that straight out.

I was actually born in Buckinghamshire but we will gloss over that particular issue.

I have lived 80% of my life in the North of England and of this 60% has been in God's Own County- Yorkshire.

That. of course, counts for nought in terms of claiming kinship to the true Tyke nation yet I cannot fail to acknowledge, be proud and bask in the reflected glory of the achievements of it's sporting sons and daughters .

This is no more evident than in Association Football.

Kicking a spherical object around is recorded throughout pre and ancient history, be it a pig bladder or the decapitated head of an enemy. The South American cultures are known to have played some form of the game. Football was banned in England in the Middle Ages as it was proving to be too much of a distraction for those who should have been at archery practice. It has always been a sport of the working classes and until the curse of the commercialism and cynicism of the modern TV subsidised leagues was generally something affordable in an otherwise hard pressed domestic budget. A pint, a pie and comradeship on a Saturday afternoon. There is not much else that is needed to sustain a working man beyond home and hearth.

The highest paid British players in the top flight are still, at heart, just ordinary lads from fairly humble origins who excelled at running and kicking rather than in the more academic disciplines. Give them a ball and you get the beautiful game.

With Yorkshire being the powerhouse of the Industrial base of the UK in its halcyon period until after the second world war it was only natural that the working man championed football either on the pitch itself or from the terraces.

Yorkshire was the birthplace of football as we now know it and the pioneers contributing to the modern game also hailed from these here parts.

FIFA and UEFA have officially recognised the role of the city of Sheffield in creating the model format on which the world's associations are now run.

The first ever club side was Sheffield FC founded in 1857. I am not sure if there were any other teams to compete against at that time but it is safe to say that as the first ever inter club match did not take place until 1860 Sheffield FC had a legitimate right to declare themselves global champions for those three successive years.

The inaugural fixture was an away one but against Hallam FC who were also from Sheffield so not too far to travel then. It was also therefore the first local derby game and as time has shown it was played on the oldest sports ground in the world, founded in 1804.

The Laws of Football, only really tweaked a bit since, were drawn up by a Hull man, Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863. This consisted of 23 rules.

Throughout its history other sons of Yorkshire have been major contributors to football.

Herbert Chapman was the first to introduce the use of numbers on shirts.

The Hogg brothers from Skelton, near York exported the game to Argentina in 1867 but that nation later developed their own version whereby in a 50/50 challenge with an English goalkeeper it is permissible for those of diminutive stature to make use of a hand to their advantage.

A Joseph Whitaker helped to establish football in Sicily but I will not offer any comment or observations on how that went, what with on going bribery, corruption and match-fixing cases still active.

George Raynor from Barnsley led the Swedish National Team to a Olympic Gold in 1948 and was never given credit for their third place and runners up positions in the post war World Cup tournaments.

Bill Nicholson from Scarborough was manager at Tottenham Hotspur in their famous double year of FA Cup and First Division victories.

This season has proven to be a most illustrious one for Yorkshire football teams.

I provide the following Roll of Honour but apologise if I inadvertently leave out Leeds United or any other teams. I will accept any other nominations from aggrieved supporters in due course.

Top of the pile is my own team, Hull City who were automatically promoted to the Premier League and remain as the sole representatives of Yorkshire amongst softie southerners, Mancs, those from the North East and the Midlands.

Doncaster Rovers, Bradford City and Rotherham also gained promotion from their hard fought divisions either automatically or through the drama of the Play-Offs.

Teams that maintained  current membership of their respective Leagues included Barnsley and Huddersfield (although only just), Leeds United (oh,alright then) both Sheffield teams and York City.

In the Evo Stik League the title was won by part timers North Ferriby United on goal difference after a long and hard competitive season and this after another stereotypically abysmal start to their campaign. They play on a small open sided ground wedged between a terrace of houses, the railway embankment and sewage treatment plant  in the middle of the commuter village and have in recent years punched well above their own weight in the league and non-league cup competitions.

For this reason my Award for best team in Yorkshire goes to North Ferriby United.

I was pleased to see that 18th position in Ferriby's League was occupied by the best named team in the global world of football, the former Frickley Colliery Athletic. There is always next season and believe it or not that is only a matter of about 9 weeks before it kicks off. I can't wait. I hate cricket.