UPPER Airedale Junior League chairman Trevor Coe has criticised club delegates for being apathetic.

In his speech during the league's annual meeting at Cononley Sports Club, Coe said: "We have had eight or nine positions to fill and nobody has volunteered. I may as well talk to the wall.

"We on the top table will continue but if we don't get these positions filled then we are going to be in a mess.

"The jobs are not onerous or rocket science but we are going to need people to come forward as volunteers."

The league's 60th anniversary year suffered a couple of major blows, with the death of former chairman Tom Barritt (Steeton) at the age of 88 and the close-season shock of losing the Malsis Festival – the school has closed. But the latter setback has been softened by Skipton and Skipton Church Institute stepping forward as hosts.

While many senior leagues seem to be suffering from a lack of players, that accusation cannot be thrown at the UAJCA as provisional team entries have gone up to 71.

This is an increase of three from 2014, including an under-17 team from Settle for the first time since 2002 and an under-11 team from Embsay.

Six clubs have shown an interest in staging the league's cup finals, so a decision has been deferred until tonight's meeting.

Principal league sponsors Healthcare.co.uk's help means that all the league representative squads will receive coaching from qualified personnel and it is hoped that the breadth of coaching will be increased.

Ben Holderness (under-13s) and John Terry (under-12s) are new team managers.

Treasurer David Allen reported a surplus of £863 for the year ended December 31, 2014 as against a loss of £206 the previous year, mostly on the back of the £1,000 from Healthcare.co.uk and an increase in club fines.

Of the 12 proposed rule changes brought to the annual meeting, nine were passed and three defeated.