Absolutely ridiculous ! This is what has ben put on the official Dartford website:
At tonights board meeting it was decided reluctantly to accept the situation, and to focus all our efforts into the upcoming campaign. We had investigated the possibility of appealing against this decision, but had been advised that this would be a futile exercise. We will be however writing to the various bodies to express our extreme displeasure at the recent events. We are still in a state of shock at the events of last night, where this situation was sprung upon us without any prior knowledge. It was obviously something that had been arranged by a group of other clubs in advance, and it would have been only right and proper to have had advance notice. The apparent collusion of the Nothern clubs is understandable, where they will benefit financially from the large away following that we will bring, but the reasoning of the certain clubs in the South is less understandable.
From the information that we have gathered, we believe the standard of the Div 1 North is not as low as some people assume, having only met less that half the clubs before, and we feel that it will be just as competitive as the Div 1 South.
It is now time to look forward, and to reach the same goal as in Div1 South which is to get into the Premier Div.
The Board of Dartford FC
Over the last few weeks prior to the meeting, we had spoken to the league about who would be going where, and at no time had any indication that we would be involved in a move. In fact the FA Alliance committe had put Molesey into the north, which is why it appeared in the constitution on the Ryman league website. This was then followed by protests led by clubs other than those involved, and was discussed by the Lleague board prior to the AGM. When entering the meeting we were given an updated constitution which became the recommended proposal. This was 23 teams in the South, and 21 in the North with Molesey staying in the South. This proposal was then rejected by an alliance of clubs from north, who were looking after their own self interest, and some clubs from the south who were looking to remove us as potential rivals for the title. A long and chaotic discussion then took place with three names being put forward to be moved. Eventually it was proposed to have a blind ballot to decide between the 3 clubs who should be moved. Voting was 27 for Dartford, 21 for Corinthian Casuals, 2 for Molesey and 9 abstentions. A further vote was then taken approve moving us. This went 35 for, 17 against, and 10 abstentions.
Therefore we had to move.
0
Comments
Up the Wings!
Funny how that's all come about because of Hayes and Yeading merging a couple of leagues above.
If they progress they will reach the confrence south in two promotions so will have a lot furthe away trips.
Division One North
AFC Sudbury
Arlesey Town
Aveley
Brentwood Town
Bury Town
Canvey Island
Dartford
Edgware Town
Enfield Town
Great Wakering Rovers
Ilford
Maldon Town
Northwood
Potters Bars Town
Redbridge
Tilbury
Waltham Abbey
Waltham Forest
Ware
Wingate & Finchley
Witham Town
Wivenhoe Town
Division One South
Ashford Town (Kent)
Burgess Hill Town
Chatham Town
Chipstead
Corinthian Casuals
Cray Wanderers
Croydon Athletic
Dover Athletic
Dulwich Hamlet
Eastbourne Town
Horsham YMCA
Kingstonian
Leatherhead
Metropolitan Police
Molesey
Sittingbourne
Tooting & Mitcham United
Walton & Hersham
Walton Casuals
Whitstable Town
Whyteleafe
Worthing
So why the fuss?
Not really. It made more sense to have 22 teams in each division so one team was going to move in any case. There was a vote and Dartford moved.
Extra income or easier competition. EIther way each division has a benefit and Dartford, by their own admission will have an easier league to try and win. Plus some local derbies v Avery and Tilbury.
OoOHHHHH I think you'll find that due to a league reorganisation they had to move one team from the South into the North league. It was either Darford, Tonbridge or Whitstable.
You decide ...
3,500 tickets been sold already
Their first game back against Horsham had about 4,100 so i'm assuming its around that capacity...