Coaldale Big Green

[1] In 1924 James Gildea set up a meeting at the town hall in Coaldale to establish the league made up of the coal region teams.

The main reason for the league was to first put an end to teams raiding their opponents' rosters for big-name players.

When the on-field talent wasn't available for signing, these managers would then steal players from other teams with the offer of higher salaries.

The plan was that all teams would be required to finish the season with the same players listed on the roster at the start of the year.

Many of the teams spent a lot of money signing talented players and in order to play them, the managers and owners relied heavily of the number of people in attendance for both home and road games.

As a result of the meeting, a schedule was agreed upon of twelve set dates from the beginning of October until the end of November.

This move was also designed to allow non-league contests of natural rivals from nearby towns to take place at different intervals during and after the league's scheduled games.

However, when it became clear that the other teams weren't following the rules pertaining to signing players, Gildea and the Big Green left the league.