Non-league club Keynsham Town says it cannot fulfil its 396-mile round trip to Mousehole AFC tonight (Tuesday) due to costs and logistical issues, with the club saying it is "unethical and unrealistic" for them to be expected to play.
Keynsham were due to play the Penzance-based side on a Saturday in February, but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The club insists it has "explored and exhausted every viable option" to fulfil the rearranged fixture this evening, but the costs are not feasible, with a bill of £2,000 forecast.
The Ks play in the Toolstation Premier, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, and the club says the fixture is the product of an "ill-thought-out and grossly unfair" restructure of the lower levels of non-league at the start of the season. A club statement highlighted that Cornish clubs in the league, Mousehole and Helston, are 15 miles further away than Manchester and asking low-level semi-professional players to make such a journey in midweek is not reasonable.
