Under-16s side from Ponders End won five rounds of matches before being told they would be kicked out of tournament less than two weeks before finals weekend, reports Richard Cubitt

Players from a youth football team in Ponders End are said to be “distraught” after being denied the chance to play in a tournament finals they had qualified for.

Middlesex FA decided to remove Parks Academy FC from the finals of an under-16s tournament over a dispute about their eligibility.

Parks Academy FC had originally reached the finals of the Middlesex U16 Youth Cup after five rounds of matches, played all over North London since last October.

According to their manager, George Batsa, they had agreed with North London Youth Football League, with which they are affiliated, to arrange their own Sunday fixtures due to their players having various commitments around their GCSEs.

After winning one of the semi-final rounds of the cup competition in March, Parks Academy received an email from Middlesex FA telling them that they had been expelled from the competition.

The finals had been due to take place this weekend, but the team was only informed of the decision ten days ago.

The Middlesex FA email, which has been seen by the Dispatch, said: “It was brought to the attention of the County FA that Parks (Youth) FC U16 Blue were not competing in a qualifying competition, and as such were not eligible to participate in the Middlesex FA U16 Cup.”

Batsa refutes this. He said: “Our argument was; ‘no, we just made an arrangement with our Sunday local league that we’re not going to publish our results’, basically, but they’ve just thrown us out on that technicality.”

He added: “They allowed us to go through round one, round two, round three, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and ultimately we made the final.”

The team launched an appeal against the decision in March, but the final hearing in April upheld the original decision.

The finals will take place this weekend, with Bedfont Eagles replacing Parks Academy, who play their football at Heron Hall Academy.

Batsa said: “The players are distraught for that to be taken away from them.

“Going through all of the rounds we’ve travelled to the depths of Middlesex, we’ve had hour-and-a-half drives. It’s been really bad for the players.”

Middlesex FA was approached for comment but had not responded at time of going to press.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.