Re Farnborough

[drummerboy]

:-/Question for A.are or D.be.
What is going on at Farnborough??

Reports would suggest they have been demoted and Hayes have been re-instated, any ideas on the truth.

[bg]

That's exactly what's happened. The same thing has happened to Lancaster City in the conference north. Go to Tony Kempster's site, he has all the details there.

[shadwellarmy]

From the Farnborough website:

Relegation to Step 4
Farnborough have been relegated just two levels down the non-league pyramid to the revamped British Gas Business Southern League 1 South and South West Division.

Farnborough look to have benefitted from the restructuring and additional clubs added to this level.

This revamped league see's local games against Fleet Town, Bracknell Town as well as old rivals Slough Town. There are also longer trips to Taunton, Bridgwater, Paulton Rovers and renamed New Milton Town. Farnborough also face a ferry ride over to play Newport IOW.

The full league line-up is;

Abingdon United
AFC Hayes
Andover
Bracknell Town
Bridgwater Town
Burnham
Didcot Town
Farnborough Town
Fleet Town
Gosport Borough
Hillingdon Borough
Marlow
New Milton Town
Newport IOW
Oxford City
Paulton Rovers
Slough Town
Taunton Town
Thatcham Town
Uxbridge
Winchester City
Windsor & Eton


I don't like to see clubs relegated for any reasons other than their performance on the pitch, but Farnborough have been a trifle lucky - at one stage it looked like they might be forced even further down the pyramid. Unless they lose their entire team, juniors and all, I don't think it will be long before we'll be seeing them back at our level; as a club, they certainly deserve it. Without their ten point deduction, they would have been pushing for a play-off place most of last season!

Hayes have been re-instated, and I have said elsewhere that I think this is terrible - they have been rewarded for playing like eleven traffic cones all season, while teams from the Pyramid Level Three have had outstanding seasons but end up with no reward if they don't win their play-offs. If a team has to be forced out of a league, the rules should be changed so that the vacant position goes to the next-placed team from the lower league, or through a one-off match between the two contenders if two leagues are involved, imo.

[drummerboy]

If Hayes are back in our league, then who the hell is A.F.C. Hayes in the Southern League?

[bg]

They are another team based in Hayes. Up until they changed their name this year they were known as Brook House FC.