EVERY Bolton Association club could become a part of the newly-expanded Bolton Cricket League.

The Bolton League voted 12-0 to expand to two divisions at a crucial meeting on Monday night.

The League then deferred a decision on whether to accept Bolton Association clubs, an act that was immediately taken by some people as meaning the Bolton League were not keen on the idea.

Bolton League club officials have told The Bolton News that is definitely not the case and that League clubs see Association clubs as a significant asset to the new structure.

The Bolton News understands the League is open to potentially all Association clubs joining the new structure.

One major reason the Bolton League could not vote to accept Association clubs on Monday night was purely procedural. The expanded League did not exist until clubs voted for it on Monday night, clubs could not apply to join something that did not exist, therefore nobody had applied, and the League could not accept someone who had not applied.

Another reason was because they wanted to give equal opportunity for all clubs to apply to join, including clubs from outside the two Bolton leagues.

The Bolton League today advertised for new clubs to join with the deadline being Sunday night.

There is a meeting of Bolton League clubs and officials at Kearsley Cricket Club on Monday night when they will look at who has applied and continue discussions on the new structure.

It is understood clubs from outside the two Bolton leagues have already expressed an interest.

The Bolton Association – the second oldest cricket league in the world – is set to go out of existence as an independent league after this season due to the resignations of seven of its clubs, with five of them having applied to join the new Greater Manchester League.

The other 12 are now free to join another league – they are the seven who have not resigned and are keen to join the new expanded Bolton League, four who who have resigned and see the Bolton league as a viable option, and Edgworth who have resigned and not given any indication of their next move.

The Bolton News understands the Bolton League are happy right now to welcome as many as 10 of those 12 available Association clubs into the new structure.

Also that they may not be against the other two either, but need to address and be satisfied over one or two concerns first, concerns which may or may not be cricket-related.

One league official told The Bolton News that League clubs were concerned about the perception in some quarters to Monday night's lack of a vote to accept Association clubs.

He said Association clubs are regarded by League clubs as hugely important and the last thing they want would be for Association clubs to join another league due to a perceived negative vibe he said simply does not exist.

The 12-0 vote to expand on Monday night also included abstentions from Greenmount – who have resigned to join the Greater Manchester League – and Astley Bridge who are undecided on whether the Bolton League or another league is the best option for them.

Egerton, whose club secretary Mike Hall is also the chairman of the Bolton League and a high profile member of the steering group bringing in the Greater Manchester League – voted for the League expansion.

Egerton have arranged an extraordinary general meeting for this Thursday at which they are expected to decide on whether to stay in the League or join the Greater Manchester League.

The other 10 Bolton League clubs have rejected the Greater Manchester League and firmly aligned themselves to the Bolton structure.

As well as Egerton and Astley Bridge, Eagley are also undecided about their future.