THE floods which have been causing havoc in the Craven district are gradually dispersing, but the legacy of the recent rains will be felt for some time to come by the Craven & District Football League.

Last weekend only three matches beat the weather, with 17 being postponed. That tally takes the back-log to date to a massive 56 and with the season not at the half-way stage, the prospects for the rest of the season are extremely daunting.

With another bleak weekend on the cards and more postponements almost inevitable in the New Year, the end of season back-log looks certain to be immense.

"Last season we has well over 100 matches to fit in at the end of the season, but most of those occurred because games in March and April were called off," says Craven League secretary, Peter Marsden.

"Last year we did well up to Christmas, but to lose so many by this stage may create major problems later. We have a couple of Cup weekends coming up in the next few weeks which should allow us to cut the build-up and hopefully the weather will improve sufficiently for us to get the back-log down to manageable proportions."

While this weekend is scheduled for a full league programme, there are other postponed games to add to the list, notably the delayed West Riding FA Cup Round Two tie between Whitkirk Wanderers and Cross Hills, which was victim of the weather last weekend.