What a shock! (From Western Telegraph)

What a shock!

11:00am Thursday 4th October 2012 in Sport

H averfordwest  County dropped a bombshell by announcing that they have pulled their reserve team out of division one of the M a n d e r w o o d Pembrokeshire Football League on Monday.

This shock announcement took the Pembrokeshire Football League by surprise as secretary Brian Hawkins said: “I’m surprised that it has come to this. All I can say is that I am very disappointed.”

The club has struggled this season on the pitch and has also lost influential manager Derek Roberts, who has undergone surgery in hospital in Birmingham this week.

The Bluebirds advertised for a new manager but nobody came forward.

Earlier in the year the club disbanded their junior section and now they have got rid of the Pembrokeshire League outfit who reached the final of the Senior Cup back in April 2011.

The club will still run it’s Welsh League team and also the Under-19s squad will play in the MacWhirter Youth League.

There’s been a lot of reaction on Facebook as Ben Skudder stated: “So the likes of Broad Haven, Letterston and other village teams can put two sides into the Pembs league, but the club with the best facilities, money and catchment area can't manage one? Shocking!”

The club issued an official statement that stated the problems at the Conygar Bridge Meadow.

“For the past few seasons, our Division 1 Pembrokeshire League squad has relied heavily on a few loyal senior players and many members of our MacWhirter Youth team squad. More often than not, this has meant that several youth players have been playing twice within a 24 hour period.

“We have tried to entice better local players to the club in the hope that they would strengthen our Pembs League team while also giving them the opportunity to compete for a place in our Welsh League squad. I am sure that many local players would like to play in the Welsh League but not at the expense of being unable to represent their local Pembs League side too. The one player one club rule that exists has completely ruled out the latter option.

“Recent efforts to replace Derek Roberts, who has been seriously ill, have also been unsuccessful too, so the shortage of senior players along with no one to manage at this level has left the club with a serious crisis.

“The criteria to retain the club's domestic licence insists that we need a youth team playing in the South Wales MacWhirter Youth League but does not stipulate that we need a reserve senior team. Because of the continued shortage of senior players within the club and also our failure to attract a manager to the club, Haverfordwest County AFC has no alternative but to resign their membership from the Pembrokeshire league.

“The club knows that we should be part of the Pembrokeshire League but circumstances and requirements have made this impossible.

"We have been putting far too much pressure on our Youth players and, of course, the drastic actions that we have been forced to take will eliminate this from happening in the future.”

It’s likely that only one team will be relegated from division one this season, and still two teams will be promoted from division two.

Obviously the league council will meet shortly and they will make the decision on what happens next.

Sorry Bluebirds

Haverfordwest County were thrashed 8-1 by Goodwick United, in what was to be the Bluebirds last Pembrokeshire League game.

Steve Evans bagged five goals alongside others by Rhys Dalling (2) and Lee Burrows. Greg Walters missed a penalty for the home outfit and Martin Carroll scored his side’s only goal.