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It is with considerable
sadness that we have to advise you that former League
President Tony Frith passed away in St. Leonard's Hospice
yesterday morning.
Tony's association with the
York senior League started in 1983 when he was appointed
Assistant League Secretary. He became Chairman in 1985 and
served for a record period of time in this capacity until
2000. He was then elected to the post of League President
which he held for the full three years allowed within league
rules and was also made an Honorary Life Vice President of
the League.
Tony Frith
has the distinction of being the League’s
longest ever serving Chairman, having held this important
post for a period of 16 years between 1985 and 2000, during
which time he was instrumental in elevating the York Senior
League into the elite top eight leagues in the county.
Within our own domain, he forged a strong working
relationship with the League Secretary that enabled them to
modernise and strengthen the League’s management structure
and procedures, which eventually enabled us to create our
premier division and build the league into its present
highly regarded status.
Whilst Tony
played a pivotal internal role within the League, possibly
his greatest achievement was his promotion of the League
within county circles where he was a trail blazer who became
the first person from our league to make a significant
contribution to The Yorkshire Cricket Association. His
commitment to the promotion of cricket at all levels,
subsequently earned him an Honorary Life Membership of the
YCA. He was also committed to Joe Lumb cricket and served
for many years as Chairman of the Yorkshire Inter-League K.O.
Competition.
He was
Chairman of Tadcaster Cricket Club for two years and held
the same post within the Tadcaster Sports Club, which
covered all the sports played at the Queen’s Gardens ground,
for seven years – being described as a fantastic chairman.
This experience was extremely valuable when he became League
Chairman in 1985 having earlier been elected to the league
committee in 1979. He had initially served as Assistant
Secretary, with responsibilities for running the League’s
representative IX in inter-league competitions before taking
over as Chairman from Bill Bragg.
As has
already been stated, Tony’s lengthy period as league
Chairman saw the League making dramatic progress in every
respect as it became accepted as the top league covering the
North and East of the county. This attracted a flood of
applications to join the league when the idea of a premier
division was floated and resulted in an influx of new clubs
and teams. The League has continued to receive applications
from clubs who wish to become members of our highly
respected league. Whilst the introduction of the premier
division and the defining of the geographical footprint
provided one of the high spots of Tony’s period in charge,
there were more trying times from which, thanks to his
integrity, tenacity and general strong leadership, the
League emerged not only unscathed, but even stronger.
When, after
exceeding the previous longest chairman term by some seven
years, Tony decided to step down as Chairman at the end of
the 2000 season he was the obvious and unanimous choice for
President in succession to Denzil Webster who had just
completed his three year term of office. Tony took up his
new role with the same amount of enthusiasm and commitment
as before and continued this when he moved into the post of
Immediate Past President three years later.
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