BLACKBURN Northern's Neil Weaver will quit as captain of the Jennings Ribblesdale League club at the end of the season.

Weaver, who's wife gave birth to their first child, Rebecca, five months ago, has been captain of the Pleckgate Road club for the past two years.

He says his new family commitments have forced him to re-think his priorities.

"I won't be the captain of the club next year," he said. "It's just because of the family commitments."

Weaver is the second Ribblesdale League captain to quit this season. Paul Houldsworth has told Great Harwood that he will be relinquishing the captaincy of the club next season.

His wife gave birth to their first child, Megan, last Saturday.

It is not yet known who will take Weaver's place.

"It is not my place to say, " he said. "I wouldn't want to put pressure on people to stand by saying who I think would be suitable."

Club captains are responsible for picking the team, getting players to grounds, going to committee meetings and so on.

But Weaver knew what he was taking on when he took up the position.

"I definitely didn't think it was going to be an easy job. When Mel (Gillibrand) gave it up it was a natural progression for me to take over because I had been at the club the longest.

"I was happy to do it then and I enjoyed doing it but that was before I was married and had a child."

Northern are lying fourth in the league, an improvement on previous seasons.

"Confidence is pretty high to a degree," said Weaver, whose side faces Ribblesdale Wanderers at home tomorrow. "But they are all difficult games this year.

"There are some very good teams who haven't been consistent but could probably beat anybody on their day.

"I thought Clitheroe would be one of the teams challenging for the league title this season, because they have a good pro, but they haven't done as well as I would have thought.

"And Ribblesdale Wanderers won the league last year and were very good but they haven't been firing this year.

"But on their day both sides could beat virtually any team in the league."

Weaver says winning the league may just be out of Blackburn's reach now.

"It would be difficult to catch Read now," he said. "Considering they are 14 points clear. They have got a good pro and that's important in this league, it can make all the difference.

"If it is not Read any one of the top seven could win it. Baxendale are quite strong, Earby are and Cherry Tree are, so it just depends on how well the teams play between now and the end of the season."

THERE will be a benefit match for Blackburn Northern professional Ata-ur-Rehman next Wednesday at Pleckgate Road.

Fixtures: Baxenden v Earby, Blackburn Northern v Ribblesdale Wanderers, Clitheroe v Settle, Edenfield v Barnoldswick, Great Harwood v Cherry Tree, Read v Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, Whalley v