Embarrassed Tooting Bec chairman Stefan Wells withdraws from The FA Vase after club fails to bring the kit for home Newhaven tie

EMBARRASSED TOOTING BEC chairman Stefan Wells has issued an apology after today’s FA Vase First Qualifying Round tie against Newhaven failed to take place after they forgot to bring their kit to a home game.

The Southern Counties East Football League First Division club have withdrawn from the competition, so Newhaven progress through to Second Qualifying Round where they will play at home to Lydd Town on Saturday 21 September 2024.

James Parsons, the manager of the tenth-tier amateur outfit, posted a statement on social media, claiming responsibility for the embarrassing situation that will surely hit the national media.

“Apologies to all involved, as manager the buck stops with me and I take full responsibility for the kit not arriving to the game in time,” said Parsons.

“Apologies to everyone that travelled to watch and everyone involved with Newhaven and Tooting Bec.”

Tooting Bec play their home games at High Road, the home of Chipstead in Surrey and chairman Mr Wells has done the right thing to apologise to Newhaven and supporters and withdraw from the national competition and they can expect a fine from The Football Association.

Newhaven will collect £550 in winning prize money, while Tooting Bec are expected to lose the £160 losers prize money.

.“Firstly, we would like to thank Newhaven’s committee, management and fans for their support and understanding under unusual circumstances,” said Mr Wells in a statement.

“Due to a miscommunication, we arrived at the ground today without our playing kit.

“It was a monumental error and we are embarrassed that it ultimately led to the match referee deciding to not allow a later kick off to get the game played.

“Just as a short explanation, we groundshare a distance from Tooting, where is where the kit was situated.  Ultimately, there wasn’t time for a round trip to collect it, even though we tried a number of options.

“Unfortunately, the kit still hadn’t arrived within the allowed delayed kick-off time of 15:30, so the game was ultimately called off.

“We’d like to apologise again to all those who attended today and gave up their time on a Bank Holiday weekend.”

Mr Wells has refunded all supporters who paid to attend the FA Vase tie and fans can contact the club by email at info@tootingbecfc.com to get their money back.

“We also feel that Newhaven FC, who acted with class throughout, should advance to the next round.  Therefore, we have suggested this to The FA and Newhaven this evening,” added Mr Wells.

“We will also take care of all costs of the fixture. We wish Newhaven all the best for the remainder of the competition.

“We are an amateur club, we rely on volunteers, and as such would ask people to think before attacking individuals and those that run our social media accounts that give up their time to run the team and club.

“Everyone at the club has my full support and as embarrassed as we feel today, we will always pride ourselves on our hospitality, sportsmanship and organisation.

“We will put measures in place, as a club, to make sure a mistake of this scale cannot happen again.”

Tooting Bec welcome FC Elmstead to High Road on Wednesday 28 August (19:45), for a League fixture.

Visit Tooting Bec’s website: www.tootingbecfc.com