That really is moving the goalposts!
FOOTBALLERS have been left without goalposts three weeks before the end of the season after a “miscommunication” at Amber Valley Borough Council.
Management and players at Ripley Town FC, who play on Greenwich Park, were shocked to find their goalposts had been removed by Amber Valley Council staff on Tuesday, ahead of crucial matches this weekend.
On Tuesday evening, a post appeared on Ripley Town FC’s Facebook page reading: “The club are saddened to learn the goalposts have been removed from Greenwich Park where all our teams play.
“As a community club and council supporter, we contacted Amber Valley Borough Council and asked for the posts to be left up a few more weeks so we can fulfil our fixtures. This was declined. As a club we feel really let down and ignored!”
The club’s organisers will be forced to use their own goalposts, which they will need to transport to the park themselves, in order to avoid the risk of being fined for not properly hosting games.
The Conservatives in Amber Valley have accused the Labour-run council of “stopping children using publicly-funded facilities” over the incident, which Labour is blaming on a mix-up caused by this season being prolonged due to Covid restrictions.
With fixtures running on longer than usual, Ripley Town secretary Louise Rose contacted the council in March asking them to hold off from getting on site to carry out the usual maintenance works to ready the park for the next season.
However Mrs Rose has said her request was ignored, and the council “won’t budge” despite the delay being out of the team’s hands.
Mrs Rose said: “It’s not as if we’ve just told them, we’ve been speaking to them since March. We told them that we needed the field until the end of May. We’ve been told that we would have to use our own posts, which we’ll need to bring here ourselves. It’s been a frustrating experience. They won’t budge. We’ve had no apology”.
Ripley Town owns its own goalposts, which are stored elsewhere. Mrs Rose has been seeking reassurance from Amber Valley Borough Council that the club will not be fined for bringing its own posts in to the field.
She says she has had the support of councillors at Ripley Town Council, who she says have been “on our side”.
Cllr Tony Holmes represents the Butterley ward on Ripley Town Council. In the elections on Thursday Cllr Holmes stood as a candidate for the Ripley Ward of Amber Valley Borough Council, the outcome of which will be known on Sunday, and for the Ripley East and Codnor division of Derbyshire
County Council, which is to be declared on Friday.
Cllr Holmes said: “We did have discussions early on but there’s been some miscommunication with so many people being involved. The message has been confused at some point. They’re going to get their posts up and they have my backing to keep them up. I’ve spoken to officers at the council to make sure that they can keep the posts up.”
However Cllr Kevin Buttery, leader of the Conservative group on Amber Valley Borough Council, said that the removal of the posts showed Labour going back on its commitments to delivering sports facilities in the borough.
He said: “To then take away the goalposts to stop the football club from finishing the season is surely an ‘own goal.’ How is taking this type of action promoting sport and wellbeing, stopping children using publicly funded facilities?
“The council need to do the right thing, apologise and immediately reinstate the goalposts. We should be showing support to our local footballers, not giving them a red card and telling them to play elsewhere.”
The council need to do the right thing, apologise and immediately reinstate the goalposts. Cllr Kevin Buttery