Sadly, the decision has been made to withdraw our Men’s 5ths fron South East 3 division of the League, and the League Sec has been duly notified.
This decision has not been taken lightly; after discussion amongst members of the Exec Committee and the captains of the men’s teams, the overwhelming feeling was that we really had little option. After having to pull out of the first two league games, we were treading a tight-rope as a club within the structure of the Men’s Hockey League and simply could not risk a third forfeit – that would have meant expulsion of the 5ths from the League and more serious penalties for the Club as a whole, affecting all our teams in the league.
As it is, we expect to incur a financial penalty (fine) and the Club will be barred from re-entering a 5th’s team until the 2020-21 season at the earliest.
The possibility of playing some of the originally scheduled league fixtures as friendlies is being looked at, depending on player availability from week to week but, in the short term the 5ths fixtures on 13th, 20th & 27th Oct will not go ahead.
Steve Ellison (Club Chair)
Mike Dutton (Club President)