THE Devonshire Carpets Craven & District Football League limped into action this week, with the weather typically unhelpful and - surprise, surprise - Skipton Bulldogs being a casualty because their Sandylands headquarters were unfit.

Rather more of a surprise, however, was the fact that Grassington had to postpone their home game against Skipton LMS, not because of the water, but because of the grass. It was too long.

"It was all a bit embarrassing," said first team manager Paul Baxter. "When I rang the league secretary to say we couldn't play she obviously didn't know whether I was having a joke, but basically, the grass is over a foot long and it would be dangerous to play on it.

"It's a nightmare really and we're just keeping our fingers crossed that the people contracted to cut the grass appear soon.

"We rent the pitch from Grassington council and the job of cutting the field is sub-contracted to a firm from Bingley. I think the job is supposed to be done a set number of times each year, but the grass has obviously shot up in the last few weeks and now it's a foot high. We've been training on the new all-weather pitch at Skipton and it came as a bit of a surprise to find our pitch unplayable.

"We've drawn the council's attention to the situation and hopefully they'll get things moving soon. We have Grindleton visiting us on Saturday week and definitely need the work doing by then."

While Grassington were left red-faced, other matches went ahead earlier this week.

Embsay opened with a 3-0 home win over Bradley and Bronte Wanderers were also 3-0 winners at promoted Carleton.

Gargrave have also stepped up into the top flight this season and they launched their campaign with a 5-0 home win over another team moving up at the end of last season, Skipton Town.

On Tuesday, Cross Hills Reserves were 4-3 winners at Hellifield Sports.

This week's fixtures include:

Premier Division:

Tuesday (6.30): Bradley v Carleton, Bronte Wanderers v Cononley Sports, Grindleton v Gargrave, Skipton Town v Grassington United, Skipton LMS v Skipton Bulldogs, Oxenhope Recreation v Embsay.

Division One:

Wednesday (6.30): Cross Hills v Rolls-Royce, Cowling v Oxenhope Rec Res, Barrowford Un v Hellifield Sports, Horton v W F C Clitheroe, Waddington v Intake, Embsay Res v Skipton LMS Res.

Division Two:

Thursday (6.30): Silsden Ath v McBrides, Grassington Un Res v Skipton Town Res, Pendle Athletic v Clitheroe Lions, Cononley Sp Res v Bradley Res, Intake Res v Earby Town, gargrave Res v Grindleton Res.

Division Three

Thursday (6.30): Earby Town Res v Skipton Bulldogs Res, Ingleton v Earby, Long Lee Juniors v Hellifield Sp Res, Waddington Res v Rolls-Royce Res, Cowling Res v Carleton Res.