INTER COUNTY – Overview

The Galtres Centre – Easingwold – North Yorkshire’s home venue where IC games have been played for the last 30 years

We select and manage three teams to play against other county teams across the North of England in the NESMBA IC league.
The teams for all matches are made up of 20 players who compete as 2 Singles, 2 Pairs, 2 Triples and 2 Fours.

  For photos of all teams (from 2008) see GALLERY – 3

THE FIRST TEAM (now known as the TORNADOS)
In 1992 the first team was launched. They played for many years in Division 2 of the NESMBA IC league but with little success.
In 2003 they finally topped this Division to gain promotion into Division 1 which they eventually won in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The decision was then taken to leave the NESMBA league and join the ESMBA national ICC where they were placed in the Premier Division. However, this proved to be a “bridge too far” and for the next 3 seasons they were generally outplayed only winning 3 games and losing 17.
For 2015/16 they were dropped down into the ‘A’ division which was more their standard, winning 6 out of 8 games and reaching the National semi-finals.
2016/17, saw them winning all 10 of their games to become the National ‘A’ team Champions.  They also won the ‘A’ team Rinks – a new competition introduced by the ESMBA in 2015. This success meant they were put back to the Premier Division where they had 2 seasons of limited success.
Although 2019/20 saw them back again in the ‘A’ Division, the team members had become more and more disenchanted with the ESMBA management of this competition and this together with other factors led to a decision to leave the ICC half way through the season
In 2020/21 they rejoined the NESMBA IC league playing in Division 2 (but this season was cancelled due to the pandemic).
2021/22 saw the team undefeated winning all 10 matches and gaining promotion to Division 1.

THE SECOND TEAM (now known as the TIGERS)
Launched in 2007 and they have proved to be one of the strongest teams in Division 2 being promoted on several occasions (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017) only to be outplayed in Division 1 and then relegated the following year.

THE THIRD TEAM (now known as the TERRIERS)
Launched in 2013 they had a good first season winning 5 of their 8 games. Since then they generally struggled only winning a single game each season. However, they have gradually grown in strength and in 2019/20 they had their best season ever, winning 7 or their 10 games and gaining promotion to Division 1 at last. However, in 2023 they struggled to keep up the high Division 1 standard and were relegated to Division 2.

COUNTY STRIP

The original “uniform” for the team consisted of a navy-blue blazer over a white collared shirt and county tie (bows for the ladies).

Following national trends, an open necked strip was adopted in 2010, initially by the Premier team only. For a while the A and B teams continued to play in traditional dress, but they followed suit and adopted the strip in 2012. Since then, players in all 3 county teams are expected to play in county shirts which are obtainable from our supplier (Zapkam). Over jackets can also be purchased.

To place an order directly with the supplier go to North Yorkshire SMBA Club Shop

NOTE: the lead time for orders is quoted as 5 weeks.