THE daughter of the late Peter Maude says she is saddened and frustrated by the demise of Wakefield FC, where he was a long-serving club president.

The original Emley, who relocated in 2000 and were due to return to the Welfare Ground as tenants of AFC Emley, are set to be wound up next month.

All-round sports fan Maude, who ran a financial services business in Penistone, was an active club official from the early seventies until his death aged 71 in 2009.

He also served as chairman of the Northern Premier League, to which Emley were promoted in 1989 and from which Wakefield were relegated last season.

Maude, who became involved when he played for the adjoining cricket club, was a real driving force for the former District League football club.

Emley had major success in the old Yorkshire League, then the Northern Counties East, of which they were founder
members in 1982.

They played at Wembley in the 1988 FA Vase final and won promotion to the top flight of the Northern Premier within two seasons of joining.

Emley twice reached the FA Trophy quarter-finals and played at Premier League West Ham in the third round of the FA Cup in 1997-98.

In their first season after moving in with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, they came within a whisker of winning promotion to the Conference, at that time just one national division.

But they have struggled to establish themselves in the city, and made a failed bid to put down roots at College Grove, once home of the now-defunct Wakefield Rugby Union Club.

Wakefield FC are now going the same way, with the 11-year-old club having withdrawn from the Northern Counties East League ahead of folding.

Maude’s daughter Karen Viner said: “I am both saddened and frustrated at the way things have turned out for Wakefield.

“My dad put a huge amount of time and effort into the club, as did others, and the rise of Emley was an amazing and fantastic success story.

“Dad was committed to maintaining the club’s progress, and he threw himself into the Wakefield move, which was very controversial.

“Being a Northern Premier League official, he was well up on ground grading, and knew there were problems with the Welfare Ground.

“I think the club had outgrown the village of Emley really, but in moving, they lost a lot of what made them so special in the first place.

“I remember some big teams coming to the Welfare Ground, and when they saw how cramped the place was, really not fancying it!”

Meanwhile AFC Emley aim to build on last season’s Northern Alliance success by entering the FA Youth Cup for the first time.

The Welfare Ground club’s Under 19s were champions of the Alliance West Division, losing only one game, and winners of the league’s Pat Rice Trophy under Richard Spychalski last season.

A string of Under 19 players featured in the first team.

Kevin Allsop and assistant Darrel Pritchard, the former Rotherham player, have moved from fellow Northern Counties East League club Nostell MW to take charge of the Under 19s after Spychalski stepped down.

They guided Nostell to the final qualifying round of the Youth Cup last season.

This season’s will be the 63rd competition.

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