On no account must York City be tempted to rent out Bootham Crescent to York Rugby League Club.

We now have a playing surface at Bootham Crescent of which we can be justly proud due to the excellent work of the groundsman and his staff and this must not be allowed to deteriorate as surely it would if rugby was played on it regularly.

In the immediate pre-war years Bootham Crescent was used in the summer by the football club York City Maroons. At that time I was junior clerk to a local company who supplied grass seed and fertiliser to York City and they also offered advice on turf management.

I remember their advice to City was to stop playing baseball on the pitch during the summer; it was essential that it had a rest and renovation work was allowed to proceed.

York City Maroons moved to Clarence Street.

Rugby League is now a summer game so the pitch would be in use virtually throughout the year to its obvious detriment.

I plead with the City directors to look well after this excellent surface and to provide us with a team worthy of playing on it.

John Wherrett,

Middlethorpe Drive,

York.

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