Clubs > Greetland All Rounders > The New Century
The New Century
Greetland continued with a single open age team for a couple of seasons and before the “A” team was revived for the 2002-03 season.
Greetland struggled as the century started only winning 2 of their first 9 league games in 2001-02.
By 2003-04, the All Rounders were playing in a very competitive Pennine Division 4 which included local Halifax clubs Calder Valley, Ovenden and Stainland Stags. By the end of January 2004, they were in the bottom half of the table with just 4 wins to their name. They were relegated at the end of the season and began 2004-05 in Division 3.
Their stay in Division 3 lasted only a single season as they were back playing in Division 2 for the 2005-06 season. By mid-January 2006, Greetland were pushing for promotion with 6 wins from their 8 by that stage of the season. The same season, the “A” team were in Division 6 and finding the going tough. An away defeat at Keighley Town “A” by 44-4 perhaps summed up their season.
The two teams continued for four seasons until the “A” team folded in 2009. During this period current club Chair, Alan Hindle, joined the club in 2006. The first team continued in Pennine League Division 1 whilst the “A” team was playing in Division 6 or 7. Alan remembers his first season at Greetland,
“I was coming off the back of 7 years of not playing and being told not to play again. I played in the second team.”
Dave Beaumont was the “A” team coach and they were promoted to from Division 7.
The first team were playing well under the watchful eye and leadership of former Calder Valley, Bradford Northern and Rochdale forward, Adam Greenwood.
Adam’s younger brother Jamie Fielden came in to coach the club around 2007. Alan Hindle recalls.
“Jamie brought a buzz about the club and some old heads from Sowerby including Dave Bicknell and Paul Taylor, mixed with a lot of youth from our end.”
Greetland won promotion 3 times under Jamie’s stewardship and even finished top of Pennine Division 1 just ahead of Crigglestone All Blacks. However, in 2011, Jamie left the club and Gary Coulter came in as temporary coach although he left soon after a short stay.
Coaches came and went at the club with Gareth Clay, Al Greenwood, Dave Tooth and Chris Robinson all having a go with Chris Robinson being the coach who took the club into the summer Yorkshire Men’s League for 2014.
With the arrival of Jame Bloem as coach, the team went well. They reached the final of the Pennine League Andrew Bennet Memorial Trophy in 2015 and 2016 but came second to Ovenden on both occasions.
In 2017, the club once again made a cup final, this time the Halifax Cup. Their opponents were Ovenden in a final played at Siddal and once again the All Rounders finished as runners-up.
The team in 2019 was continuing to improve. They had a very successful season winning all of their 13 league games in the Yorkshire Men’s League Division 4 to finish the season as champions.
Greetland survived the Covid pandemic, which caused the cancellation of the 2020 season and returned strongly for the 2021 season. They were newly promoted to YML Division 3 and the carried on where they left off before the Covid shut sown winning 10 of their 14 games to finish as runners up and earn promotion. Now in YML Division 2, the team had a good season with 10 victories in 2022. However, in 2023 the wheels fell off and the team managed just 3 wins from 16 games to finish bottom of Division 2.
As the 2024 season approached, Greetland and close neighbours, Elland, were both unable due to shortage of players to enter an open age team. The decision was taken by both clubs to field a joint team, “Grelland”, in the Yorkshire Men’s League.
The Greetland All Rounders club announced,
“The merger is necessary to “enable open age rugby to thrive in the area”. We understand this is a big move but one that both clubs’ committees and players agree is the right one.”
The season was a difficult one with games being played alternatively at Elland and Greetland. The first ever “Grelland” game was a 4-14 home defeat to Dodworth.
However, this arrangement lasted just for a single season and Greetland did not enter an open age team for the 2025 season.
Greetland All Rounders continues as Rugby League club with their juniors, both boys and girls, doing well. In 2025, the All Rounders are concentrating on the next generations of Greetland Rugby League players fielding teams at U6’s, U9’s, U 11’s, U13’s plus U16’s girls and U 16’s boys teams.