We apologise unreservedly to everyone at the club, says Erith & Belvedere secretary Frank May

ERITH & BELVEDERE have today confirmed that they have been thrown out of the Umbro Kent Senior Trophy and will not contest the final against Sevenoaks Town later this month.

Micky Collins’ side are presently sitting in second place in the Kent Hurlimann Football League table, just two points behind Herne Bay, although Simon Halsey’s side do have four games in hand, owing to their epic FA Carlsberg Vase campaign, which saw them suffer a heartbreaking semi-final exit at the hands of  Northern League side West Auckland Town at the weekend.

Erith & Belvedere  had reached the Kent Senior Trophy Final after beating Phoenix Sports, Cray Valley (Paper Mills) and Hollands & Blair and were looking forward to meeting Sevenoaks Town at Park View Road in the showpiece final on 15 April.

The club issued the following statement earlier today on their official website www.erithandbelvederefc.co.uk.

“Erith & Belvedere can confirm that football secretary Frank May attended a personal hearing on behalf of the club today in London.

“The hearing took place at Wembley Stadium on charges of allegedly fielding an ineligible player (playing without International Clearance) between Saturday 7 January and Tuesday 24 January 2012.

“Having considered the mitigating circumstances presented to the Commission, the charge against the club was proven and the club have been found guilty and subsequently fined.

“As the player also played for the club in one round of the Kent Senior Trophy, the club have been removed from the Final tie of the competition as per the Rules of the Competition.

“The Board of Erith & Belvedere FC wishes to reassure fans of the unique and exceptional circumstances giving rise to the charges and that all care has been taken to ensure best practice and to avoid a similar occurrence in the future.”

Following the hearing, club secretary Mr May apologised for his costly error.

He said: “On behalf of the Board we apologise unreservedly to all the staff, players and every supporter of this club. We have now changed procedure adding in more failsafe measures on the administration procedures and we have to look forward.

“The removal from the Kent Senior Trophy is a massive blow to everyone connected with the club. In the face of this adversity, we will look to close ranks and focus on the remainder of this season and prepare for what we hope will be a successful 2012/13 season.

“We are also aware of leaked internet rumours which are of great disappointment to the club as they appear to have come from one or more of our competitors in the Competition.

“We now have a massive game at the weekend against Erith Town and every game after that we will treat as a cup final.”

Erith Town suffered a 3-0 defeat away to Beckenham Town on Monday night, a result that ended a three-match unbeaten run.

Meanwhile, Hollands & Blair, who were defeated by Erith & Belvedere in the semi-finals, will host Cray Valley (Paper Mills) at Star Meadow this coming Saturday, to see which side will face Sevenoaks Town in the Final.
 
Visit Erith & Belvedere’s website: www.erithandbelvederefc.co.uk  

Erith Town  v  Erith & Belvedere
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Saturday 7^th April 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Erith Sports Stadium, Avenue Road, Erith, Kent DA8 3RT