Nothing can be firmed up until December's annual meeting but optimism is as high within the Bradford Central League as it has been for months.

Prior to this week's senior league meeting at Laisterdyke Cricket Club, there were serious doubts as to whether the organisation would even reach its centenary year in 2008.

What was a ten-club league in April has now become a seven-club league, with Norwood Green seemingly on the way to joining the Bradford League and Wibsey Park Chapel (bound for the Halifax League) and Hepworth & Idle also handing in their resignations before the end of that month.

However, what Central League vice-president Alistair Hastings called "the magnificent seven" now have enough options on the table to breed confidence about next year.

One, from Hastings himself, is that the league be allowed to accept clubs with only one team. Under current rules, sides must have two teams in order to join.

Another proposal from Phil Robinson, the league's publicity officer and results secretary, is that the 14 remaining teams will compete in one division, thereby pitting first teams against second teams.

"We would have a 24-game season as I don't want a club's first team to play their second team," he said.

The main counter-argument here is the potential gulf in standard in matches.

A third proposal was for each team to stay in their respective divisions but play each other three times, with the blank dates being made up by Twenty20 competitions.

Clubs have been asked to thoroughly discuss these proposals before the league's next senior league committee meeting on Thursday, June 28.

Norwood Green came through a vote ahead of Great Horton Church and Laisterdyke to win the right to stage the league's Thrippleton Cup final for second teams on Sunday, July 29.

The original venue of Girlington has been deemed unsuitable because of the erratic early-season bounce on their newly-laid square.