Last updated 09:51, Friday, 15 August 2008

HAYDON Bridge football team have dropped out of the Wades Northern Alliance in an eve of season bombshell.

The club’s membership of the league was suspended last season when the club was struggling for players.

However, hopes were high of a good season this term, with more than 20 players turning up for pre-season training under newly appointed manager Gary Nixon from Barrasford.

The club had agreed to drop from the first division to the second to regroup, but at the 11th hour, found itself unable to raise a team for its opening fixture .

And after an emergency meeting on Thursday, the club decided to resign from the league rather than face another season of struggling for players.

Ironically, the club has some of the best facilities in the region, with a good field and an all-weather training and five a side pitch, as well as a newly refurbished pavilion.

The club’s junior section is also thriving, with teams at every age group from U8s to U15s.

Club chairman Alan Borthwick said: “It is a very sad time for football in the village, but we just couldn’t go on.

“We tried to carry on last season with insufficient players, and were twice fined £200 for not fulfilling fixtures, and then £300 from dropping out of the league.

“We couldn’t keep throwing money away like that, and decided the only option was to drop out.

“It will probably mean we have burned our boats with the Alliance, and will be unlikely ever to get back in again, but we really had no option.”

Mr Borthwick played for Haydon Bridge when they were one of the top teams in the Hexham and North Tyne League, regularly winning the Clayton Cup and other trophies with players like Davie Alder, Alan White and Ernie Edwards.