Booted-off players win red card apology

Reporter: DAWN MARSDEN
Date published: 29 July 2014


OLDHAM Council has apologised to members of a football team for mistakenly ejecting them from Clayton Playing Fields.

Oddies 14, who play in the Oldham Sunday League, were told to leave the field, in Chadderton Way, when they turned up for training.

Officers from the council’s First Response Service ejected them following reports of increased littering on the field.

David Pullen, manager of the team, which is based at the Oddies club in Royton, said: “Oddies 14 is our new team, but we have used Claytons to train on with other teams for the past 19 years and never had any problems.

“In the past we’ve played under the names Oddies Athletic, Coolers FC and AFC Church but we have registered the new name. The officers didn’t even ask if we were part of a registered team, they just told us to go.

“Councillor Barbara Brownridge, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and co-operatives, said: “Over recent weeks there has been an increase in the amount of litter being dumped on Clayton Playing Fields.

“In order to tackle this problem members of our First Response team visited the fields to find out who is using them as it appears that some teams are not registered users but just turn up and play without paying.

“Unfortunately on this occasion we mistakenly asked a registered team to leave. As soon as we realised our mistake we immediately contacted them to apologise.”
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