Middlezoy Rovers are furious, and they haven’t tried to hide it.
They’ve been moved from the Toolstation Western League Division One, where they last finished 13th out of 22 sides, on 56 points.
Having, by their own admission, ‘worked their bo**ocks off’ to get there, they’ve been moved to the South West Peninsula League East, also in Step 6, where will travel up to 84 miles next campaign, with their furthest trip being to face Elburton Villa in Plymouth.
Whilst, on the face of it, a journey that long may not seem disastrous, for Middlezoy, a community club in Somerset, the decision has not gone done well.
The discontent has started with the players, who the club revealed have voted unanimously to appeal the switch in divisions in the hope of returning to the league from Toolstation Western League Division One.
With longer journeys ahead therefore meaning more time spent away on weekends for players and staff, Middlezoy will know the importance of their appeal to keeping both parties at the club happy.
The other consideration is cost.
Several divisions higher in non-league this season the impact of geographical location and travel fees has been clear, with Bishop’s Stortford as high as the Vanarama National League ‘North’ really struggling to compete in the division from Hertfordshire.
The price of having to travel further will have to come from somewhere, and the chances are, it’ll come from Middlezoy.
It would mean a whole host of new oppositions to come up against also, meaning anything they had learned about their opponents having faced them last term, may now count for nothing if the appeal fails.
With the AGM for their appeal in Launceston in Cornwall, the club appear to feel as though they have been treated very unfairly.
The club’s future preparations are also likely to be impacted by the uncertainty around the division they’ll be competing in next.
For more stories deeper down the non-league pyramid, click here.
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