If you aren’t from the United Kingdom, you may have a difficult time finding Yorkshire on a map. However, there is a good chance you have heard of football clubs like Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City and Huddersfield to name just a few. These clubs hail from the county. Well, now the northern English county is on the verge of being more known by football fans outside of the UK. The country has started its own national team. Yes, that’s right, the Yorkshire national team is a thing.
What is the Yorkshire national team?
During the weekend of December 9 and 10, the Yorkshire national team held its first ever trials. The team reportedly had players from a variety of non-league levels turn out. The only restriction for those players who turned up was that they had to have been born in Yorkshire.
So, why is a county in England starting up a national team? A group of avid Yorkshire football fans, players and coaches got together to form the county’s football association last July. Like other national FA organisations unapproved by FIFA, Yorkshire will play against those sides looking for recognition.
The Yorkshire national team already has a match set for January. The team will play a national squad from the Isle of Man.
CONIFA is the organisation that represents nations not recognised by FIFA. The group runs its on version of the World Cup, called the World Football Cup. The Yorkshire national team haven’t be accepted to the association yet, but their application is pending. CONIFA already has member nationals such as Greeland, Zanzibar and Tibet.
If the Yorkshire national team is looking for some star-studded players to one day turn out, the team could get the likes of Premier League players Jamie Vardy and Kyle Walker to play. However, according to the powers that be at the Yorkshire FA, it is the type of football represented by the Premier League that they do not want.
In an article posted on the BBC’s website, Yorkshire FA chairman Phil Hegarty outlined the type of player the group are looking for:
“The sort of football they will be playing will be proper Yorkshire football, not Premier League football,” Hegarty said.
“We don’t want people diving on the floor and shouting at the referee. In our constitution, that is a disciplinary matter.
“We have had a lot of interest from amateur level to National League – we are getting some really quality applications in.
“We want them to talk about what it is to be from Yorkshire, the heritage and history of the region and what makes us that bit special.
“It will be a way of reaching out to grassroots Yorkshire people and saying: This is our football team; this is what we are about, what the region is about and why we are representing it.”
It is a bold plan, but there is no idea on whether it will catch on with other English counties.