A team of under-15 footballers has been banned from a Cheshire league for THREE years after a brawl erupted at the end of a cup final.
Every player on Macc Boys U15s and their opponents was handed the lengthy ban after a fight started at the presentation at the end of the game.
The entire team was booted out of the Mid-Cheshire Youth Football League for the next three years due to the ‘seriousness’ of the incident.
Andy Harris is the chairman of Macclesfield Junior FC which includes Macc Boys.
He said: "How the league has reacted is absolutely disgraceful. There was an incident at the end of the game where one of our players got hit after we got the cup and he retaliated. It was over in a matter of seconds.
"They charged two of our players but only one was found guilty but the whole team was banned from the league. All of the lads will have this stigma attached to them now."
The incident flared up at Macc Boys’ 2-1 victory in the cup final over Winsford Junior Blues Athletic in April. The club was also fined £200 by the Cheshire FA.
Macc Boys’ bosses were so angered by the decision they decided to pull most of their club’s teams out of the league.
They will now play in the Stockport Metro league where the ban does not count.
Geoff Jackson, president of MCYFL, said: "There were a number of incidents at the league cup final involving players and spectators from the two clubs which were passed to and subsequently dealt with by the county FA.
"The league then has the right, under FA Standard Code of Rules, to carry out its own review and due to the seriousness of the incidents a motion was put before the league’s AGM whereby the league membership reached the decision to exclude the two teams."
He added players who want to join new clubs which play in the league have already appealed.
