The Bradford League, whose management committee proposed to vote a club out of Division Two at the end of the season, are letting clubs come up with alternative ideas.

Last winter the management committee decided to re-elect only one club at the end of 2004 in order to even up the numbers in Division Two from 15 to 14 and thereby reduce the number of Sunday fixtures.

However, a petition calling for an extraordinary general meeting over the issue was handed to the management committee on Tuesday prior to their monthly meeting at Undercliffe Cricket Club by Great Horton's Tony Hamer.

And although the call for an egm hasn't borne immediate fruit because of a technicality, the management committee are prepared to look at proposals that will enable 15 clubs to be maintained in Division Two for the 2005 season. One idea that is backed by Area Cricket Council chairman Brian Lymbery is for the league to be split into five divisions, the first two being made up entirely of first teams.

The third division would consist of five first teams and seven second teams, and divisions four and five would be solely made up of second teams. The first four divisions would play a 22-game season and the bottom division an 18-game campaign.

Lymbery said: "No club would have to be kicked out under this system, and we don't have to be confined to five divisions.

"As long as clubs fulfilled given criteria we could go to six, seven or eight divisions, and the Bradford League should be in communication with the Bradford Central League, who are going through hard times.

"Clubs from within Bradford have been going to the Halifax League and the Craven League, but with this idea we could start bringing them back to play within the city."

Hamer, who was happy that the general matter will now be discussed by clubs, listed 11 criteria to be considered when deciding if clubs should stay within the league or others should join.

They were: field, seating, scoreboard, sightscreens, parking, dressing rooms, showers, teas, bar facilities, umpires rooms and (ground) equipment.

Another idea is for the league to be split into three sections of five teams, with two sections playing each other twice and teams in the remaining section only once. That would make a minimum of 22 fixtures, plus at least one cup match.

The third proposal was for four divisions - 14 first teams, 14 second teams, one first team and 13 second teams (26-match seasons) and 16 second teams, the latter split into two sections of eight with teams playing sides in their own section twice and teams from the other section once (22 games).

League chairman Graham Reid said their original proposal about getting rid of a club was still an option, but that proposals other than these four would be discussed if they arrived within a fortnight.