The Bassetlaw & District Cricket League was formed at a meeting held in the Lion Hotel, Worksop on 12th August 1903 following an approach from the owner and editor of the Worksop Guardian newspaper, Mr. Frank Sissons, to the President of Worksop Cricket Club, Mr. William Allen. Mr. Sissons was surprised that local clubs had to travel to surrounding areas for a game in the Derbyshire League, the Hallamshire League, the Wales and District League or the Scarcliffe and District League. A silver trophy, to be known as the ‘Worksop Guardian Cup’, valued at £25 was provided, and remains in use for presentation to the League Champions to this day.
The following eight teams entered the League for the 1904 season: Clowne, Creswell Colliery, Gainsborough Britannia, Kiveton Park Colliery, Retford, Shireoaks Miners’ Welfare, Whitwell Colliery and Worksop and the first match to be played was Whitwell v Retford on 30th April. This game ended in a tie, and an appeal by Retford that the scorers had recorded a boundary during the Whitwell innings as five runs instead of four – this appeal was subsequently upheld and Retford awarded the match. Despite this, Retford ended the season bottom of the League with Worksop becoming the first Champions.
Only five clubs maintained continuous membership throughout the decade between the formation of the League and the outbreak of the First World War [1914 – 1918]: Gainsborough Britannia, Kiveton Park Colliery, Retford, Shireoaks Miners’ Welfare and Worksop, with other clubs coming and going, including Sheffield Collegiate and Sheffield United, neither of whom returned after the war. A Second Division was formed in 1905, but was disbanded due to lack of support in 1909.
In March 1915 it was decided to abandon the League for the duration of the war, and the next meeting was held in December 1918 when matches were revived for the 1919 season with nine clubs competing in First and Second Divisions: Dinnington Main, Gainsborough Britannia, Kiveton Park Colliery, Langwith Colliery, Manton Colliery, Retford, Shireoaks Miners’ Welfare, Whitwell Colliery and Worksop.
Over the next 20 years there was a steady increase in the number of clubs in both Divisions, with the Second Division formed from small club First XI’s in addition to the Second XI’s of stronger clubs. Fixtures were made with traditional games, such as Creswell v Whitwell, being retained, but others were arranged in rotation on a quota basis with little consideration of the relative strengths of the teams.
A knockout competition, for the Broomhead Cup, was held in 1926 for ‘A’ teams and some small clubs, and included midweek matches, but after one season it became the Third Division. Following the outbreak of the Second World War [1939 – 1945] it was planned that 19 teams would compete in the First Division and 24 in the Second Division; the Third Division was disbanded and not re-formed until 1949.
After the Second World War the number of teams grew so that by 1952 there were 33 teams in the First Division, 33 in the Second Division and 8 in the Third Division. Fixture making was still by quota and Ruston & Hornsby, the Champions, played only two of the other teams who finished in the top ten places. It was finally agreed after many years to divide the First Division into three Sections, A, B and C for 1953 based on the final League table of season 1952 as follows: