| Haverfordwest highlight double standards |
| Monday 22 February 2010 |
 HAVERFORDWEST have suggested they should be refunded a £500 fine for failing to fulfil a fixture four years ago after Sunday's postponement at Bala. The request follows the Welsh Premier League's decision to postpone the fixture at Maes Tegid, because the league claimed it had "a duty of care" to Llanelli's players and manager because of the travelling conditions. "The same thing happened to Haverfordwest four years ago when we were due to travel to play at Total Network Solutions and, on the day of the game, there was very heavy snow in Pembrokeshire which meant that some of our squad couldn't even get out of Tenby and the surrounding area because the snow was so deep," says County chairman Rob Summons. "Indeed, we consulted a local police commander before contacting TNS and he categorically stated that we should NOT take the risk of travel that day - so we made sure that we immediately contacted TNS and informed them of our genuine problems. "The senior police officer supplied us with written confirmation of his warning and we sent this, together with photographs of the snow, to the Welsh FA, to support our genuine and insurmountable problem. "We also contacted the Welsh FA and we were told that we had to travel but simply couldn't risk the safety of our playing and managerial staff and so the game did not take place. "The outcome of this incident was that we were fined £500 by the Welsh FA and the game was eventually replayed at another date. "It seems that Llanelli will be allowed to replay the match, like us, but have not as yet been hit with a fine. Mention is rightly made of the league's ‘duty of care to clubs' players and managers' but it seems that this duty did not apply to us four years ago. "We must make it very clear that we are not asking for Llanelli to be fined because we can understand their problem and feel that the Welsh FA has made the right decision in a difficult situation. "What does beg the question is whether the Welsh FA could now return our £500 as an act of good faith since we had indeed set the precedent as we were faced with the identical problem but we appeared to be treated differently," adds Summons. Llanelli normally travel to north Wales games the previous day and stay overnight in hotels in the Chirk area - however, it seems on this occasion they chose not to follow their usual routine, although several supporters made the journey on Saturday and were left kicking their heels following the postponement. Photo: Bala were confident of getting Sunday's game on despite overnight snow [JFP Images].  League is becoming a laughing stock, says Breeze
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