SPA SET UP NEW PAGET IN HISTORY
FORMER Southern League outfit Paget Rangers are climbing the Pyramid again – after being handed the Midland League Division Two championship.
Paget finished second in the table, enough to clinch promotion, but were given top spot after the end of the season after Droitwich Spa were stripped of the title.
Following an appeal to the FA against being penalised for fielding an ineligible player, Spa were docked three points thus dropping them down to third place and giving Coventry-based Alvis Sporting the other promotion spot.
It’s not the first time a league title has been decided off the field this summer. Moneyfields were stripped of the Sydenhams Wessex Premier title in favour of Portland United after also fielding an ineligible player, while Haywards Heath Town are waiting to hear the outcome of a hearing as to whether they will lose the Southern Combination championship and promotion to the Ryman South in favour of second-placed Shoreham, for a similar offence.
Spa chairman Peter Lemon said that the player concerned appeared three times for the club after being sent off, while he should have been serving a 14-day suspension.
“It was a total administrative mix-up,” he said. “We contacted the Worcestershire FA to see if he could play, but they had no knowledge of the sending off, because the referee did not file his match report for six weeks. They had to chase him up. We could have been docked nine points, but they let us off with three because of the administration problem.
“We could not have gone up anyway, because our ground is not up to Step 6 standard but next season we will groundsharing with Stourport Swifts.
“I met with all the players on Thursday and we will now go all out to win the league next season.”
Paget Rangers were promoted to the Southern League in 1986, but were relegated to the West Midlands (Regional) League after just one season.
In 1994, they returned after winning the inaugural Midland Alliance title but relegated again in 2001 and after problems with their new home in Castle Vale, they folded in 2002.