THE COBBYDALERS MOVE EAST!
The Cobbydalers will be playing their football next season in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division (Step 5), after the restructuring of Steps 5/6 of the National League System.
Club Allocations for Steps 5/6 were confirmed, following on from a meeting of The FA’s Leagues Committee held on Tuesday 14 May 2019. It is a sideways step for the Cobbydalers, who have been in the North West Counties for 15 years. The official website of The Hallmark Security Football League NWCFL stated “In a surprise move, The FA has moved Premier Division side Silsden over to the Northern Counties East League Premier Division for next season, leaving the Premier Division with 20 clubs, sadly ending Silsden’s 15-year association with the League.
In the Premier Division, Longridge Town and Rylands have been promoted from Step 6 as Champions of the First Division North and First Division South as expected. They will be joined by Avro who gain promotion as runners up in the First Division North. Joining them in the Premier Division will be Skelmersdale United, who return to The North West Counties League following relegation from the Evo Stik League First Division West. They re-join the League after a 13 year absence.”
The Cobbydalers journey in the NWCFL began on August 14th 2004 with a two-nil victory at Norton. The Cobbydalers, under the guidance of Andy Geary and Mick Hook, went on to win promotion after a run of seven wins in the last seven games.
Their last game this season was a home victory on April 27th 2019 against Burscough leading to best fifish in the NWCFL.
Silsden’s geographical position means that it is on the periphery of both the NWCFL and NCEFL with long journeys on both sides of the Pennines. As the NWCFL Premier Division has evolved, the present distribution of teams has a southern bias with more teams south of the Mersey, Silsden’s nearest opponents being Barnoldswick Town and Padiham. The Leeds/Bradford area provides more local derbies, although there are still long trips to Bridlington and Mansfield. Several of the present players live in the Leeds Bradford conurbation.
Both manager Danny Forrest and his assistant Craig Bentham are happy with the move.
