Humiliation May All Be For Best in The End

At about 3.32 on the afternoon of Saturday June 19^th this year, the Denaby United bubble burst. Coldly and clinically, Midland League delegates at their annual meeting voted the club out of the league into no-man’s-land.

Within a week Denaby United, pride of the Midland League for so long, were well on the way to recovery from the humiliation of that June afternoon. They had a place in the Yorkshire League.

Today, six weeks after the blow fell, United are preparing for another season’s football with energy and enthusiasm that says a lot for the dedication of officials who have just steered their club through two of the worst seasons in its long, long history.

Burden removed

It is, in fact, as though a bitter and back-breaking burden had been taken from the shoulders of the men of Denaby. Typically, club chairman Mr. Eddie Langfold and president Mr. Arthur Roberts had their sleeves rolled up at Tickhill Square on Saturday, and were busy cutting grass.

Typically, both men look forward to the challenge of the coming season, even though technically it’s a long way from the supposed heights of the Midland League to the Second Division of the Yorkshire League.

Mr. Langfold commented, “We have every confidence in our ability to do well this season.

“All being well we expect to go through the Second Division up into the First. When it comes to the F.A. Cup we shall be playing hard in every round, to get as far as we possibly can.”

His comments echo those of the president. “We’re pretty confident,” said Mr. Roberts.

Super division

Looking a little further ahead, he added, “There has been some talk of a ‘Super’ Division of the Yorkshire League, and the reserve County Senior League side. It is understood that perhaps 18 or 19 semi-professional players are on United’s books.