We can announce that the Hall Road Rangers first team will no longer play from Haworth Park after the end of this current season.

This comes after Hull United announced it as their new home for the 2023/24 season. We’d like to place on record that we haven’t been forced out of Haworth Park as it’s a decision that’s been made by Dave Reader and Chris Burke. We wish Hull United good luck in their new home and also all the best to LIV Supplies.

Club Chairman Dave Reader provided the following statement:

“After my decision to step away from Haworth Park and Hall Road earlier in the season, myself and Burkey sat down to see what the future held. We both had reasons for stopping, but we also had some very good positives to continue.

We both put our points and ideas forward regarding the future and what it’d look like. With this in mind, myself and Burkey have been in various meetings with many clubs and grounds to see what, if anything, could be a new project we could possibly get involved in and add to the existing structure.

After many discussions, we’ve agreed with Westella & Willerby to move to Hilltop. This’ll see us play under the Westella & Willerby banner from the 2023/24 season.

We spoke about everyone who we wanted to come across which’ll see Burkey, Matt, Alex and Mike all continue as the management team. I’ll also stay within football, which I didn’t originally envisage doing, but with Hilltop comes a ready made project with the pitch, clubhouse, dugouts and so on. We also have all the lads coming over which was a big stipulation of Burkey’s as they’ve been great all season.

Ollie Harsley will also move across and continue with his work on the social media and match previews/reports. We’ll also be on the lookout for more people to join and provide additional help on game days.”

Hall Road manager Chris Burke had this to add:

“After Dave’s decision to step down as Chairman and my recent health issues, I was unsure what I’d be doing come the end of the season. Myself and Dave have become good friends since we first met at East Yorkshire Carnegie.

The thought of carrying on at Hall Road without him didn’t sit right with me after all he’s done for the club as a whole and also for myself, Leon and the lads around the first team setup. We had a tongue in cheek conversation one Saturday after a game of what if there’s a new project?

I know Westella & Willerby very well as it’s where I started out in the management game after joining Leon in the dugout. They have some very good people around the club including Pete Whinham, Jez, Rich Brown, Nobby and I’m especially looking forward to seeing Fidds and Phil Wood again.

It’s a shame what happened previously, but that’s part of football. I’m looking forward to the new start and going back to where it all began. I’d like to thank the committee for putting their trust in myself and my coaching staff, Dave and the lads. Hopefully, we can bring the good times back.

I’ve had some wonderful times at Hall Road and I thank the club for everything they’ve done. I wish it well in the future and moving forward.”

The Hall Road Rangers junior teams will continue to run with a new Chairman and Committee. This’ll ensure that the Hall Road badge is still represented and Dave is working tirelessly to ensure that everything is sorted before departing.