AIRE-WHARFE League club Illingworth St Mary's have applied to join the Spenser Wilson Halifax League for the 2017 season.

The club's players have been consulted through meetings and questionnaires and it is clear that the modern player favours a shorter game and less travelling time.

Illingworth president Andrew Smith said: "We have made the application with the full permission and understanding of the Airedale and Wharfedale League, with whom we have a very good relationship.

"In recent months we have given a lot of thought to the long-term future of the club and the clear message coming from our players is that the amount of time spent travelling to away matches is too great.

"Geographically, we would be very much in the centre of the Halifax League. The shorter 45-over game format is also seen as an advantage.

"These views mirror those coming from the National Players' Survey undertaken by the ECB-YCB in 2013 and 2014 that the majority of players wanted no more than 30 minutes' travel time to a fixture and preferred a shorter-format game.

"Currently we travel about an hour each way on average to our away games."

As the club already field a team in the Halifax Sunday League, the application will progress quickly, with the club to make a presentation to the council meeting in February and a vote taken at the April meeting. A straight majority is required to be successful.

Illingworth secretary David Lawton said: "There is natural regret in ending a 55-year association with the Aire-Wharfe League – but the world we live in continues to change and we have to change with it if we are to survive and prosper.

"Our facilities compare favourably with most, so we would like to think Illingworth and the Halifax League will mutually benefit from our membership.

"Moreover, we will no longer need to organise and pay the expenses of an overseas player, so we will concentrate our resources on improving our facilities.

"Whatever the future may bring, the Illingworth players have resolved to stick together.''

Illingworth were founder members of the Halifax Parish League in 1914 and were Championship winners in 1919 before joining the Yorkshire Council in 1920, which was to be their home for the next 40 years,

The Halifax Parish League (the word Parish was dropped in 1926) originally comprised just nine clubs and re-entry would unite Illingworth with the three surviving founder members – Greetland, Sowerby Bridge and Triangle.

Halifax League president David Normanton said: "We see this as a very positive move and one which vindicates our league's proactive involvement in the ECB-YCB player surveys and the clubs' backing to be part of the YCB pyramid league structure.

"Interestingly, it also underlines our continued steadfast allegiance to the 45 overs per innings formula, as this was one of the foremost points considered by the Illingworth players when they made the decision to apply to switch."