Lindley Lib lose 0-9 and are relegated

Veterans League Review of the Division 1&2 results from the last day of the 2026 season

We have known for a long while that Lowerhouses were to be the 2026 Division 1 title winners for a third successive season, this time by 22 points ahead of Longwood who clinched the runners-up spot on the last day of the season. Last year they won it by 25 points ahead of the same Longwood team. Longwood took the runners-up spot on the last day following their 8-1 demolition of Lockwood Con A to pass Golcar Lib A who lost at home to Lowerhouses 4-5.

With six teams in contention for the two relegation places, it was always going to be a dramatic day of bowling when none of the six could afford to lose their final day fixtures but the nerves kicked in, and 4 of those 6 teams did lose their final fixtures. Three of them by a 1-8 scoreline and one, Lindley Lib A, lost by 0-9 at home to another bottom six team, Elland C&BC. After sitting in the relegation places almost all season, the Elland team came good in the final 6 matches of the season, winning 4 of them, 3 of those away from home, to manage a great escape and eventually finishing in 8th position. They will be grateful that it never came down to positions being decided by the better Aggregate For totals, as the Elland C&BC team had the worst total of the 12 teams in Division 1.

Elland finished two points behind the other final-day winning team, Kirkheaton Con A, who beat Marsh United A by 7-2. Cowcliffe were on the wrong end of one of those 1-8 scorelines and that concluded a run of 7 defeats in their last 8 matches to send themselves down to Division 2. They are joined by Lindley Lib A who suffered defeats in 5 of their last 6 matches which, coupled with that 0-9 home defeat, were condemned to the second relegation place.

Rastrick and Lockwood Con A had both banked sufficient points before their last day 1-8 losses to avoid the drop but there would have been some concerns in both camps until the final results were all in.

Meltham A suffered some late threats to their run into taking the Division 2 title including a 3 points penalty for playing an ineligible player that unsettled the team but eventually they took the title by 12 points ahead of Denby Dale. That penalty came about from their match on 18 August. The club's B team Division 4 match versus Kirkheaton Con B was rearranged from that same date to 3 September when they innocently played a bowler who had played in the A team match of the original date of 18 August. Under the League Rules both teams were penalised with 0-21 scorelines for the matches involving that bowler. That reversed the A team's 7-2 away win at Waterloo into a 4-5 defeat and the loss of 3 points that could have cost them dearly.

Denby Dale had enough points in the bank to override a 3-6 last-day defeat at Waterloo and confirm the second promotion place. Hemplow had been tied to the bottom spot for some weeks and finished 29 points adrift of safety after a 1-8 final-day home loss to Milnsbridge A. They have been joined by Almondbury Lib and that means that both teams that came up from Division 3 last season have made an immediate return to that level for next year.