The fuel crisis has claimed its first major victim in Yorkshire golf after Union officials last night decided to scrap Sunday's team championship at Huddersfield.

It means Sheffield will not get the chance to complete another double after taking the Inter-Union League title for the fourth year running.

And Bradford, runners-up in the League, also lose the opportunity to mark team captain Tim Wade's retirement with some silverware.

Wade learned the news with a pohone call last night and said: "It's a great shame, but it's one of those things. You can't do anything about it.

"The Yorkshire Union asked us to guarantee that we could get all our team to Fixby on Sunday and I said it was impossible to do so at this stage.

"They said they were going to make a decision the following day, but came back a little later to say they had received the same answer from some of the other Unions and so had decided to cancel the event."

Bradford's players had hoped to get the chance to prevent Sheffield completing their annual double. They came very close to doing so last year when finishing runners-up by six strokes at Bingley St Ives.

The players were also keen to give Wade the perfect send-off as he ends his 11-year stint as captain for Bradford.

It now means the last major event of the year for the Bradford Union will be the amateur matchplay finals at Keighley a week on Sunday. A reserve day is already in place for that should the fuel problems continue.

That will also be the last chance for golfers to earn points towards the T&A golfer of the year trophy.