Bingley criticised over Priestley Cup final (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bingley criticised over Priestley Cup final

4:34pm Friday 25th September 2009 in Sport By Bill Marshall

Bradford & Bingley have come in for criticism following their staging of the JCT600 Bradford League Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup final last month.

At the League’s rules revision meeting at Pudsey Congs this week, David Storr, chairman of cup runners-up Farsley, said: “The outfield hadn’t been cut, we were playing on a used wicket and near the pylons it was wet and the ground was muddy.

“Maybe the league’s management committee should inspect the cup final ground before the final is played.

“For a showpiece final it was nothing short of a disgrace.”

Bingley’s league representative David Markham said that the work on the pylons had been delayed by a lack of planning permission.

He also explained how an outside contractor had put total killer rather than weed killer on the outfield earlier in the season and that water had seeped under the covers prior to the final, which meant that they had to use the wicket from the day before rather than the intended strip.

League treasurer David Young said that in future the League would consider inspecting cup final grounds in the period leading up to the contest.

Brighouse and Great Horton, who finished in the bottom two of the Second Division, were both duly re-elected for the 2010 season.