Premier League assistant referee Scott Ledger has spent this week preparing to run the line in his 32nd top flight match of the season and also getting West Bretton CC ready for their Pontefract League campaign which begins tomorrow.
The Royston man is West Bretton's club secretary as well as the captain of their second team who play in Division Five West, while the first team play in Division One.
Ledger, who officiated in Manchester City's win at Southampton on Saturday, said: "I will miss the first four or five games of the cricket season. Even if I am not doing a Premier League game until Sunday, I don't want to play on the Saturday in case I get injured. I have played a few games for the first team but, generally, the Premier League don't like me playing at that level because it is a bit too competitive and I could risk injury.
"It's been a good season for me in football. I have done 31 Premier League games. It would be nice to get some play-off matches to finish the season off."
Ledger says there are plans to improve the facilities at West Bretton, where he is one of the key figures. He said: "Most of the other volunteers for the club work nine to five hours so they can't be at the club during the day but, with my hours, I am available the majority of the time so I am at the club a lot.
"We have great facilities, a really good pitch and a good location just off the M1 so we get a lot of requests to host junior games for Yorkshire or South Yorkshire Schools. We had Yorkshire Ladies under 17s down there this week. "We've applied for planning permission to build a new pavilion with a bar. It's pretty much a dry village in Bretton so it would be great for our club to be a hub of the community.
"Hopefully, this season, the second team will compete near the top of our league and first team can stay in the top flight. We have seen quite a few Barnsley teams leave the league in the last few years like Monk Bretton and Wombwell Main. It would be great if the likes of Darton and Stainborough could join us in the top division."
Stainborough, Notton and Darton are in Division Two with Thurnscoe in Division Three and Ryhill and Havercroft in Division Six West.
