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Yorkshire football team

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Yorkshire
Nickname(s)The Vikings
AssociationYorkshire International Football Association
ConfederationConIFA
Head coachTBA
First colours
Second colours

The Yorkshire international football team is the official football team of the English County of Yorkshire. It is organised by the Yorkshire International Football Association (known simply as YIFA), the governing body for Yorkshire senior international football teams.

Yorkshire is not affiliated with either FIFA or UEFA and is therefore not allowed to participate in either the FIFA World Cup or the European Championship, although, as of January 6, 2018, the team is eligible to play in CONIFA competition. Yorkshire players are full British citizens who are eligible to play for England and other eligible nations.

The Yorkshire team do not have an official home stadium, instead choosing to play at values across the county, although loosely based at YNubuilds stadium, Fitzwilliam, near Wakefield.

History

Early attempts at a Yorkshire team

Despite Yorkshire having a representative schoolboy team for many years there was no formal senior representative team until 1924 when the West Riding Football Association formed a Yorkshire senior representative side as part of the jubilee of Leeds University, with players chosen from Bradford Park Avenue, Bradford City, Huddersfield Town, Leeds United and Halifax Town.[1] In the end, however the team was eventually just a West Riding Football Association team and not representative of the whole county of Yorkshire, the Yorkshire side won two goals to nil.[2] In 1935 a Yorkshire team was once again discussed and a proper Yorkshire team was selected from leading clubs in Yorkshire including Leeds United, Huddersfield Town, Sheffield United and Bradford City, this time to take on a team of players selected from Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough at Sunderland's Roker Park ground, as part of the Queen's jubilee celebrations.[3] However, once again the match was eventually reported as being played by a West Yorkshire Team, though today players from Sheffield United who appeared in the match would be considered from South Yorkshire. The Yorkshire team beat the North-East coast team by three goals to two.[4]

First official Yorkshire international team

In October, 2017, YIFA held a foundation meeting at the Square Chapel in Halifax, with the intention of organising a Yorkshire senior international football team and formally establishing its primary aim as seeking membership of CONIFA for the senior men’s team and to compete with other nations, states, regions and groups not affiliated to FIFA.[5] Plans for a senior women’s team and disability teams were also announced by YIFA at their founding event.

Guest players

As a result of sporadic Yorkshire representative teams playing one off exhibition matches, prior to the official founding of the senior men's representative team in 2017, a number of players have represented Yorkshire in an unofficial capacity. Most notable of these are England internationals Hugh Turner, Billy Furness and Jack Pickering, Northern Irish international Davy Cochrane, Liverpool forward Harold Barton and Manchester United defender George Roughton.

Team colours

Yorkshire’s traditional kit colour is blue.

The motif of the Yorkshire international football team features a stylised White Rose of York on a blue shield, inspired by the Yorkshire flag.

See also

References

  1. ^ "A Yorkshire Soccer Team". Leeds Mercury. 11 December 1924. p. 15.
  2. ^ "Student's Bright Display". Leeds Mercury. 19 December 1924. p. 15.
  3. ^ "Yorkshire's Selected". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette. 3 May 1935. p. 14.
  4. ^ "Few Thrills at Roker Park". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 7 May 1935. p. 21.
  5. ^ "Yorkshire is getting its own international football team". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
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