BAFA Timeout – Thunder and DC step down from League

On Sunday it was announced that Sussex Thunder and Durham County Presidents would not be competing in the forthcoming 2014 season, due to start this coming weekend.

The first announcement came from the South conference Sussex Thunder. They have been on the up recently and are an established team in the league having formed in the late 1990’s when the Crawley Raiders merged with the Brighton B52’s.

Double Coverage released this statement from the Thunder soon after:

“Following a series of meetings today with Management, Coaches and Players of Sussex Thunder, it has been decided that we are unable to fulfill our commitment to play competitive football at Premier level in 2014.

This difficult decision has been taken on the grounds of player safety due to a shortage of experienced players in certain key positions. We will, however, be engaging with the BAFA Associate process for 2014 with a view to returning to competitive football in an appropriate division for 2015.”

Shortly after this, and while still coming to terms with a team dropping out of the league, came another announcement. This time it was the National North conference that suffered a setback.

The Durham County Presidents released their statement via the BAFA Facebook page, and is in full below.

The history of the Presidents dates back to 1985, so again we are losing a team that has deep roots.

  • At the time of writing there has been no further update from BAFA as they are in ongoing talks with the other member clubs in both the National North and Premier South conferences about the current situation, but it’s hoped that the situation is resolved quickly and that both teams will be back on their feet as soon as possible.