FOUNDING York Sunday League outfit Yorkshire Herald have administered the last rites at a self-billed 'last supper' to signal the end after 50 years.

The club, which grew out of the machine and despatch rooms at the Yorkshire Evening Press at its former Coney Street premises in 1951, heard the final whistle at a commemorative dinner at Lady Anne Middleton's Hall in York last night.

Mainstay Roy Ellwood, who first played for Herald in 1951, told the Press of his sadness at the folding of a club which attracted some of the area's leading local players and which was also in the vanguard of the formation of the Sunday set-up in York.

And more than a passing note of irony was provided by the 65-year-old Ellwood - the man who actually got the York Sunday League ball rolling in 1962. He maintained the Sabbath game was enjoying a huge upswing in popularity across the north of England, especially where the fortunes of FA Premiership sides were undermining local Saturday leagues.

However, for the first time in five decades the name of Yorkshire Herald will no longer grace the York Sunday scene.

Advancing years for Ellwood and his 68-year-old assistant, Bob Readman, have counted against the continued existence of the club, as has the desire of several players who want to quit playing on Sundays.

Ellwood, chairman of the YSL, explained: "We can't go on forever and there's no-one else coming through to take it on.

"If we felt the need to advertise, we did not want the club to fall into the wrong hands, so we are calling it a day. We have got to let go some time and so this is what we are doing."

Readman added: "It's a shame we had no-one coming through, but while it is sad there are a lot of good memories for us both."

Ellwood recalled that soon after joining the Evening Press as a 15-year-old 'despatch room junior' in 1951 he was asked to play for the Herald team that then figured solely in friendly fixtures arranged by the likes of Press stalwarts Arthur Winship, Derek Breeze and Len Jackson.

"I only started playing regularly in 1956 after I returned from national service," he said. "I was then playing in what was the Half-Holiday League on a Wednesday."

After playing in friendlies for Herald, Ellwood decided there was an opening for a Sunday league to be established in York.

After an appeal in a 'Sportscene' column of former Press chief sports writer Malcolm Huntington, the league was formed in 1962 with a nucleus of eight teams.

Official sanction from the Football Association did not come through in time for the first designated campaign, though that proved no bad thing as Britain shivered in one of the worst winters in living memory thereby wrecking the country's football programme.

"But by 1963 we were up and running," said Ellwood, who, since those days, has served the league as secretary for 29 years and then chairman to the present day.

The enterprise of Herald, however, has been Ellwood and Readman's prime football occupation.

Among the more luminary of Herald aces were former City players Billy Hughes and Gerry Baker, plus local stars Alec Benton, Dave Breslin, brothers Billy and Derek Holmes, and in the last few years Bobby Mason, Chris Wordsworth, Graham Ward and Alex Dewhirst.

As if by perfect judgement the 50th anniversary of the club has coincided with a return to top YSL honours for Herald.

In the early days of the YSL, they were a powerhouse unit. But as the league expanded their fortunes dipped so much they fell into division three.

However, the club has undergone a remarkable renaissance.

After inching back into the top-flight, Herald have lifted the first division title in two out of the last four years. Just last season they were pipped to the crown by Wigginton, who also beat them in the final of the league's premier knockout competition, the Challenge Trophy.

There may be one last hurrah for Herald, though, as it is hoped they could regroup the team to defend their York RI Floodlit Cup crown at the start of next season. But as a competitive force in the YSL the dressing-room door has closed for good.

Said Ellwood: "The team have grown older together and Bob and myself decided we wanted to finish while we were still successful. We have done that."

Updated: 11:22 Saturday, June 09, 2001