THE DALES Council League have just finished their 59th season but there are fears that they may not last much longer.

Keith Dibb, a life member of the Dales Council Umpires' Association, said after the league's annual meeting at Pudsey Congs: "I want the league to continue but I don't think it will be here in two years' time.

"I ask all the captains at matches that I umpired in 2014 'What are we going to do about the shortage of umpires?'

"There are players who have just retired and they are not interested in umpiring.

"I have been umpiring in the league for 20 years, won the Umpire of the Year award twice in four seasons in 2000-03 and want to continue, but I am 80 next summer and we need people to step forward and umpire."

Dibb was speaking on the back of a proposed rule change to compel clubs to provide an umpire for the 2015 season, which was knocked back 14-4 at the league's annual meeting.

Paul Whiteley, the umpires' delegate to the league meetings, said to clubs during the meeting: "We only have 17 'full-time' umpires at the moment and we have 14 matches every Saturday.

"Some of our umpires are over 80 years old. We need younger umpires and, unless something is done, there will be some C Division matches next season without a league umpire.

"If you don't want that to happen, the answer is with yourselves. All leagues in Yorkshire are in the same boat to a degree but unless we get more umpires, the league will fold."

Umpires' Association secretary Colin White thanked appointments' secretary Steve Wilkes at the umpires' annual meeting for staffing all matches with at least one registered umpire, and said: "Without him, this last season may well have fallen apart."

White added: "A comment made to me at the last league meeting (in October), when we were trying to get clubs to supply an umpire, was that the Dales Council League should clamp down on behaviour because people do not want to umpire as players are not respectful to either umpires or opposition.

"My reply should been 'The clubs should have control over their players' but I was too dumbfounded as to what was being said.

"The person followed up by saying 'Why should an unqualified person stand at the bowler's end when he has no experience or knowledge'.

"How are we going to get umpires if some people have this attitude?"

Wilkes said at the umpires' annual meeting: "I have found it very difficult to get umpires to every game this season, with only having 16 or 17 umpires some weeks but in nearly 360 matches over the season there was a qualified umpire at every game.

"We don't want to go down the route of having two umpires at every A Division match and having the bottom two divisions with no umpires but it would make things a lot easier if recently-retired players come forward to umpire."