Dewsbury withdraw Reserve Grade team

The Rams won last season’s Championship Reserve Grade title but the lack of regular action has led to the decision, following Featherstone and Sheffield in withdrawing.

Dewsbury invested a significant amount of money in the development of local talent through their Reserves and six of last season’s squad were handed first team contracts.

A Rams statement said: “This difficult decision has been taken as a result of the current structure of the game at Reserves level.

“We have found it increasingly difficult in these last few weeks to attract young players to the club, due to only being able to guarantee occasional fixtures, which aren’t a part of a formalised league format.

“We have attempted on several occasions, without success, to arrange further friendlies to bolster the fixture list.

“But the players faced the prospect of several weeks without a game and a season finishing in early July, which just isn’t any good for their development.”