HARROGATE Railway FC have been cleared of allegations they illegally approached four players.

A six-man committee, formed from representatives of the West Riding and North Riding FA, met on Monday night to hear the claims from Nestl Rowntree that Railway had not gone through the correct process to sign Elliott Simpson, Jimmy Gore, Steve Hadden and Mark Watkinson.

But after hearing all the evidence from both sides, the committee decided Railway had no case to answer.

Mark Jarvis, the North Riding FA secretary, said: "The protest failed. We decided there was no illegal approach for any of the four players. After hearing all the evidence, both verbal and written, we decided that there was no illegal approach."

Updated: 11:47 Wednesday, January 30, 2002