Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup final goes colourful

Posted: June 22, 2006

This year's finalists in the two major cup competitions will be allowed to wear coloured clothing after a postal ballot resulted in an 18-12 vote in favour of the proposal.

The Management Board confirmed the result and also announced that the kits for the teams reaching the Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup and Priestley Shield finals will be offered free of charge under a new partnership with Surridge.

They will provide 16 sets of shirts, trousers and sweaters for the competing clubs in the colours of their choice and black jackets will also be made available for the big match umpires.

Surridge have also agreed to provide new shirts for the Bradford League representative side and they are expected to wear them for the first time in their Yorkshire Senior Leagues Knockout semi-final against the Huddersfield League at Pudsey St Lawrence on Sunday, July 2.

Bradford League Media and Marketing officer Alan Birkinshaw said: "We have been involved in discussions with Surridge for some time and we are delighted that the clubs have given the go ahead for coloured clothing to be worn.

"This decision applies only to this season's finals, but it provides us with the opportunity to create a colourful spectacle and present these matches in a way which may appeal to a wider audience.

"We are fortunate that Surridge's local representative is a well-known Bradford League figure, East Bierley left armer Paul Hutchinson, and he will be working closely with us to promote the finals.

"Both the league and Surridge hope this is the start of a long term arrangement. We intend working together to examine a number of ways in which we can help clubs to reduce their costs."

The Management Board has given its approval for a new Surridge cricket ball to be trialled. Initially this will be carried out by Lightcliffe in second team games. They will be feeding back data on the ball's performance to the Management Board and Surridge.

If the trial is successful the ball will be offered to clubs at a specially discounted price.