The reaction of many within sporting circles was one of sadness this morning on the news that Cardigan Town FC have been forced to pull out their second team from the Costcutters Ceredigion League. Writes Andrew Clarke.
The Magpies reserves have been struggling for many weeks to field a side and have had to pull out of a couple of fixtures at short notice with players not being able to commit themselves to a Saturday afternoon. The same situation arose across the River Teifi at the start of the season when St Dogmaels were forced to pull their second team out as they were facing similar problems as their near neighbours and fellow townies Maesglas were forced to pull their reserve team out two years ago.
Long standing club secretary Dai Morgan, a die hard football man who has been a loyal servant to the Magpies for over 30 years confirmed this morning that Cardigan had very little option as he explains :”It was unanimously but reluctantly decided to withdraw our reserve team from the league following a committee meeting held last night.
“This was not an easy decision but it was taken to secure the future of our club in the Ceredigion League. It was not taken lightly and has been a matter of discussion during previous committee meetings for the past three months owing to the unavailability of players to fulfil reserve team fixtures.
“We hope existing players continue to support the club and I thank them for their commitment and we would also like to thank Joe Roscoe for his commitment as manager of the reserves.
Maesglas manager Paul Jones said he was dismayed to hear this news but not surprised as he has been on the footballing front line for many years as boss of the Blues and said:” It really is a sign of the times with little loyalty in the game any more and players are not committing themselves like they used to.
“ There is far more going on these days with players taking up other interests and hobbies and even though we only run one side these days I struggled to field a team for our game last Sunday at SDUC.
“ There are far too many glory hunters around and not enough who stick it out and they move from club to club. It’s a tough job being a manager of a local football team and players don’t always realise this.”
Just a few months ago Cardigan Town regained the Costcutter first division title and they were the envy of clubs across Ceredigion and mid Wales and played a brand of football that hadn’t been seen at the King George for a very long time and possibly never before.
There are some very talented young players at the King George who will not get a game with Cardigan on a Saturday but they can expect a call from clubs like Cilgerran, Maesglas and St Dogmaels over the next few days!
It has often been said that a week is a very long time in football and it may well be that it will be a very long time before the Magpies ever fly as high again as a club as the reserve team was fundamental to their success. Their first team manager could dip into the reserves and throw talented kids like Tomos Toft in at the deep end for big games with no hesitation. This luxury has now gone.
