A bogus telephone call led to Wickham’s Winchester & District Evening League fixture against Pothwar Lions this week being called off.
Wickham were all set to host the Lions at their tree lined Rookesbury House ground, but shortly after lunch on Wednesday captain Andy Gwynne received a call (from a withheld number) from someone claiming to be from Pothwar saying they could not get a side together and would need to concede the fixture.
Gwynne notified his players and thought nothing more of it – until at 6.15 he received a telephone call from the captain of Pothwar saying that they were all at Wickham ready to play and where were the Wickham players?
League secretary Martin Peters explained: “It seems that someone with a bit of a grudge called to cancel this fixture and his plot worked, leaving 22 players and officials disappointed.
“But it has been mutually agreed by both clubs - in conjunction with me -that no one was to blame for this. The fixture will be replayed later in the season and will still count towards the league points.”
Wickham were all set to host the Lions at their tree lined Rookesbury House ground, but shortly after lunch on Wednesday captain Andy Gwynne received a call (from a withheld number) from someone claiming to be from Pothwar saying they could not get a side together and would need to concede the fixture.
Gwynne notified his players and thought nothing more of it – until at 6.15 he received a telephone call from the captain of Pothwar saying that they were all at Wickham ready to play and where were the Wickham players?
League secretary Martin Peters explained: “It seems that someone with a bit of a grudge called to cancel this fixture and his plot worked, leaving 22 players and officials disappointed.
“But it has been mutually agreed by both clubs - in conjunction with me -that no one was to blame for this. The fixture will be replayed later in the season and will still count towards the league points.”
