…. as Nat King Cole, among others, might once have sung – although the potential bother in this instance doesn’t directly affect Presteigne St Andrews FC.
There is to be an executive meeting of the Spar Mid Wales league on Monday 9 August at which there will no doubt be much discussion on the withdrawal from the first division of Hay St Marys FC and from the second division of Defaid Du.
The proposed departure of Hay St Marys will come as more of a shock – promoted to the Spar League last season, Hay had a very solid first campaign at this level with some decent results along the way – not least when they taught Presteigne something of a lesson in a 4-1 win at Llanandras Park in their first league game.
It is believed Hay are to focus their efforts on the Herefordshire League in the coming season in which their first team is due to figure in the Premier Division while their reserves are expected to continue in the Mid Wales League (South).
Defaid Du’s withdrawal from division two was, perhaps, less of a surprise in that they were very late entrants in the first place.
The Llandrinio-based club (English translation: ‘Black Sheep’) played in the Montgomeryshire League second division last season so they were looking at stepping up two levels to play in the Spar Mid Wales League second division this time around.
They answered the call for additional clubs to help make up the Spar League Two and were given a period of time to get their ground up to the minimum specification for the coming season – among the items needed were a perimeter fence and dug-outs.
While the reasons for both clubs’ withdrawal are not yet known it does leave the league’s executive committee with something of a headache – do they play the first division with one fewer club, or do they reinstate relegated Llanfyllin Town to the higher level?
Given Defaid Du’s decision to pull out, any decision to reinstate Llanfyllin would then leave the second divison looking seriously short on clubs, while there is also the issue of what punishments they would hand down to the respective clubs for such a late withdrawal.
No doubt somewhere within the league handbook there is ruling on a standard fine for such a late withdrawal but this reporter professes to having a life, so I have not looked it up. It is to be hoped the league’s executive shows a degree of common sense, though, as presumably neither club withdrew for the fun of it – they must have had good reason.
So there will be much to ponder on Monday night – as soon as we get any news of the decision it will be posted on the site.