Football club quits league due to lack of players
· Yahoo Sports
Pocklington Town Football Club have withdrawn from the Humber Premier League due to a lack of players.
The club explained long-term injuries had compounded the problem.
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The first team are previous champions and league cup winners.
Secretary Richard Bower said it was "very sad" and the club said on social media the decision had been taken "reluctantly".
In a statement posted on Facebook, the club said: "We have been proud to have been a part of the league for over 20 years and wish the league and teams in it all the best in the future as we concentrate on rebuilding our senior section."
The Humber Premier league is the highest standard of local football available outside of the Northern Counties or Central Midlands leagues.
The league is a football competition created in 2000 for clubs based in and around Hull and north Lincolnshire.
Pocklington Town FC ran four teams before this season, but had to also withdraw a team from the East Riding County League also due to lack of player availability.
"The situation since Christmas has deteriorated further, so we were left with the decision to make regarding pulling one of our teams out of one of the leagues that we play in because we don't have enough players to field teams every week," Bower explained.
Female football thriving
Bower said over the last 15-20 years the opportunities for people to play football have become a lot more varied and players were busy with social commitments during the weekends.
"They can go spend half an hour on a 3G facility on a Tuesday night, for example, and get their football fix that way," he said.
Bower said the club's junior girls and ladies football teams were thriving, and it was just the open age senior men's football that was struggling.
He said the club was open to building up the senior men's teams again in the future.
"It's a shame, because we're a great club with great facilities, [with] thriving teams, just not at the senior age group at the moment," he added.
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