Non-league club Keynsham Town says it cannot fulfil its 396-mile round trip to Mousehole AFC tonight (Tuesday) due to costs and logistical issues, with the club saying it is "unethical and unrealistic" for them to be expected to play.
Keynsham were due to play the Penzance-based side on a Saturday in February, but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The club insists it has "explored and exhausted every viable option" to fulfil the rearranged fixture this evening, but the costs are not feasible, with a bill of £2,000 forecast.
The Ks play in the Toolstation Premier, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, and the club says the fixture is the product of an "ill-thought-out and grossly unfair" restructure of the lower levels of non-league at the start of the season. A club statement highlighted that Cornish clubs in the league, Mousehole and Helston, are 15 miles further away than Manchester and asking low-level semi-professional players to make such a journey in midweek is not reasonable.
In response, a statement from the Toolstation League said failing to fulfil a fixture is a "serious matter and will be subject to a disciplinary procedure".
Keynsham – based on the outskirts of Bristol – are 10th in the table, while Mousehole are second and competing for the title with Tavistock and Exmouth Town.
Keynsham said it felt "severely let down by the Western League board" in a statement published on social media. It read: "Rest assured that our committee and players have explored and exhausted every viable option internally, including taking time off work, to play this game on a Tuesday evening.
"To play at Mousehole on a Tuesday night would require us renting a small minibus for two days and reimbursing players for lost wages in taking a half-day off work; this would cost the club circa £2,000 (not forgetting the money wasted from the original postponed game). A night game would also mean a five-hour journey each way (including stops), with us leaving by 1.30pm, on the day of the game and getting home in the small hours of Wednesday morning.
"The original date scheduled for this fixture was Saturday, February 19. After regular daily communication between our two clubs in the days leading up to the game due to the forecast stormy weather, the game was in fact postponed at approximately 9.30am.
"Mousehole to that point had only been concerned with the potential of storm damage to the stadium rather than the pitch itself being playable. By that time, the. majority. of our players and management had already travelled beyond Exeter.
"Our club feels that we have been severely let down by the Western League Board in this situation. Our suggestions since the original postponement for alternative options have been unsupported by the league. For example, we have no fixture on Saturday 9th April; we feel that Mousehole's fixtures could have been adjusted to enable us to travel there on that date.
"The league have been reactive rather than proactive, and their lack of pragmatism in this instance is further backed up by the appointment of a referee for this fixture who lives in Torpoint (a 160-mile round trip on a Tuesday night)!
"Whilst we understand the concept of the FA's proposed 'perfect pyramid' for Non-League Steps 1-6, we are not alone in feeling that the blanket approach to having a solitary 'South Western' step five division was ill-thought-out and grossly unfair to clubs in the Western League Premier Division.
"By way of example, Manchester is over 15 miles closer to Keynsham than either Mousehole or Helston! Sadly the travelling in our division is more akin to a step two or three division than Step 5 and a 400-mile round trip on a Tuesday night is both unethical and unrealistic for a step five club.
"To directly quote the FA, 'whilst football is a hugely important part of all our lives, our primary concern will always be for the safety and welfare of clubs, players, staff, officials, volunteers and supporters."
In response, the Toolstation League said: "This morning Keynsham Town Football Club released a statement concerning their inability to fulfil tonight's scheduled League fixture at Mousehole Football Club.
"The Western League Board does not accept Keynsham Town's version of events regarding the scheduling of this fixture or the conduct of the league concerning the postponement of the original League fixture between these two clubs, scheduled for 19th February.
"Failing to fulfil a fixture, which technically has not happened yet, is a serious matter and will be subject to a disciplinary procedure. The League will be making further statements on this matter, at the appropriate time, pending the outcome of this disciplinary procedure."
