The Surrey FA have revealed there are no plans to revise the rules governing player eligibility for the County's Senior Cup competition any time soon, write Simon Fitzjohn & Stuart Amos.
Kingstonian and Tooting & Mitcham were thrown out of the tournament for fielding ineligible players in their semi-final last month, won 4-0 by Ks.
Ks chairman Mark Anderson has urged the county FA to update the rules using a sub-committee of forward thinkers and talented committee men'.
advertisement
His manager Alan Dowson has already branded the red tape surrounding the competition as ridiculous, while his counterpart at promotion-chasing Tooting, Billy Smith, admits the cup is no longer top of his priorities.
Surrey FA officials, who took more than a month and two committee meetings to decide the fate of this year's competition, have admitted a rethink of the current regulations was not on the agenda.
"The rules have been there for years. It is not my position to decide or comment on the them," said Challenge Trophies secretary Mike Jermey.
"Changing the rules is not something that has been brought up before or since. It has not even been discussed.
"We are in the middle of the current competition so it won't be discussed until the summer - if at all."
Anderson reopened a bitter war of words with Tooting by claiming the moral high ground in an affair that will see beaten quarter-finalists Merstham and Redhill fight for the right to face Whyteleafe in a tainted final.
The Terrors had originally cited Ks for fielding former Dulwich Hamlet striker Shawn Beveney in last month's clash, before counter claims were levelled at Tooting over on-loan midfielder Dorian Smith.
"To protest after a 4-0 home defeat and then expect to play in the final is taking things to a ridiculous level," Anderson wrote in his programme notes at the weekend.
"We wouldn't have done it - perhaps we just have more moral fibre than them.
"We have lost our final, but I am very pleased to say Tooting & Mitcham won't be playing in it either."
Smith has since sought to draw a line under the saga, but not before taking a swipe at the Surrey FA.
"We could have pushed this further if we had really wanted to. The cup is the bottom of my list of priorities, to be honest," he said.
"You cannot tell me if we had won the game and Ks found out we had fielded an ineligible player, they would not have appealed - that is crazy.
"I fell out of love with the Surrey FA a long time ago.
"There are lot of people sitting on that board who just shouldn't be there. I am just wiping my mouth of it."
The Surrey FA have made themselves look like the "Gin swigging Old Gits" that they really are. After forcing AFC Wimbledon to play last year when they knwe they were going to be kicked out they make a mess of this years competition.
The rule is that upto the semi final a player must be registered 7 days before the game - it then changes to 28 days for the Semi. Therefore it is possible for a player to play in the quater final but not the semi final if the two games are close together.
The Surrey FA have made themselves look like the "Gin swigging Old Gits" that they really are. After forcing AFC Wimbledon to play last year when they knwe they were going to be kicked out they make a mess of this years competition.
The rule is that upto the semi final a player must be registered 7 days before the game - it then changes to 28 days for the Semi. Therefore it is possible for a player to play in the quater final but not the semi final if the two games are close together.
"You cannot tell me if we had won the game and Ks found out we had fielded an ineligible player, they would not have appealed - that is crazy."
It's not crazy at all, Mr Smith. If we'd been beaten - nay, thrashed - 4 nil at home I'd like to think our board wouldn't be so petty as to report the other team for fielding an ineligible player. Especially as they clearly knew before the game had even kicked off and could have prevented the whole thing.
I'm very, very glad T&M are also out; they've got exactly what they deserve.
"You cannot tell me if we had won the game and Ks found out we had fielded an ineligible player, they would not have appealed - that is crazy."
It's not crazy at all, Mr Smith. If we'd been beaten - nay, thrashed - 4 nil at home I'd like to think our board wouldn't be so petty as to report the other team for fielding an ineligible player. Especially as they clearly knew before the game had even kicked off and could have prevented the whole thing.
I'm very, very glad T&M are also out; they've got exactly what they deserve.
The rules are there and have been for many years, so there are no excuses. However, when the rules are so patently ridiculous, how can the spokesman from the Surrey FA appear to rule out even [bold]reviewing them?
[/bold] Maybe some of Will Carlings old friends are also involved in football!!? Why don't the Clubs get together (in a cartel - given that there are lots of builders involved in Semi-pro football) and withdraw from next years competition, preferably after it has begun?
The rules are there and have been for many years, so there are no excuses. However, when the rules are so patently ridiculous, how can the spokesman from the Surrey FA appear to rule out even reviewing them? Maybe some of Will Carlings old friends are also involved in football!!? Why don't the Clubs get together (in a cartel - given that there are lots of builders involved in Semi-pro football) and withdraw from next years competition, preferably after it has begun?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
