Yorkshire’s own international team takes on the world
MATT BRADLEY is 25 years old. From Monday to Friday he works as a customer account manager and most Saturdays he can be found playing up front for Dinnington Town FC. For a club in the Central Midlands League North, that means away games at the likes of Tideswell United and Haworth Colliery.
However, this weekend Matt will line-up with 10 other players he met for the first time a few weeks ago to receive his first international cap. Unlike when England play, there will be few, if any, dignitaries in the crowd and no singing of the National Anthem. However, listen closely and you might just hear the strains of reverberating around Hemsworth Miners FC.
The Pontefract ground may be a long way from Wembley, but on Sunday it will witness a little piece of history when Yorkshire, wearing a strip supplied by who else but Godzown Sports, plays its first ever international match against the Isle of Man’s Ellin Vannin.
“I heard they were setting up an international team for Yorkshire and just thought, ‘Why not?’,” says Matt, adding the initial trials had to be cancelled due to bad weather and the squad will have only trained together once before Sunday’s big game. “We all seem to get on and it feels a good thing to be part of. I don’t know anyone who loves football who would turn down the chance to be part of an international squad.”
Like many good ideas, the Yorkshire International Football Association began life as a result of various conversations down the pub, but it was Phil Hegarty, who can now add football chairman to his CV alongside previous jobs as fork lift driver and freelance ghost writer, who drove it forward.
“Lots of us have had that conversation about who would be in the greatest ever Yorkshire 11,” he says, referring to a long list of contendors from Gordon Banks and Tommy Taylor to John Stones and Kevin Keegan. “This is just taking that one step further.
“The more I looked into it, the more I realised that setting up an official Yorkshire international football team was a real possibility, what I hadn’t quite bargained for was just how much work was involved.” Phil’s aim was for YIFA to play against the likes of Greenland and Zanibar, who compete in a sub-strata of teams that have not qualified for Fifa membership.
While his squad didn’t meet the exact criteria set by the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, the tournament organisers were so impressed by the application that at an AGM earlier this month they voted unanimously to approve Yorkshire’s membership.
“We knew that we had something very special, but even we were surprised that the approval came so quickly,” adds Phil, whose to do list now includes sorting out Sunday’s postmatch sandwiches. “To be honest the response has been incredible.
“When we put the call out for players last year, we weren’t sure how much interest there would be. The only requirement – apart from being reasonable on the ball – was that all players have to have been born here. We were overwhelmed by the response and that’s why I think we will succeed.”
Another of those getting ready for Sunday is 28 year old sales manager and Ossett Albion defender James Hurtley.
“People can be a bit sceptical about something like this and to be honest I was a bit at first,” he says. “But then I listened to the plans and ambitions they have for this squad and I knew that they were taking it seriously.
“I am not going to get selected for England, but why would I give up the chance to earn an international cap for my home county?”
To buy tickets for Sunday’s match or for more information go to yorkshireifa.com