Fairfield shock as club quits league

FAIRFIELD Golf Club have stunned the Oldham and District Golf League by resigning less than a month into the new season.

The Audenshaw club, that has had a new clubhouse and newly-designed holes in recent years, pulled out of both the 'A' Championship and 'B' West divisions with immediate effect after a team meeting.

Team captain Phil Reid said the club was disappointed to have to take the decision, but they were finding it increasingly difficult to field teams and did not want to let down other clubs by turning up short.

"You cannot build a team on promises and maybes," said Reid.

League chairman John Walsh said: "This has come very much out of the blue and causes the league fixturing issues and we are saddened to lose one of our clubs at a time when the league has been expanding over the last few seasons."

The loss of Fairfield cuts the 'A' Championship from six to five clubs and the 'B' West from seven to six.

To avoid several inactive weeks over the scheduled 14-week season, the fixtures in these two divisions have been redrawn over a 10-week period and clubs should check the league website for details. The new fixture list has also been sent out to all team captains and comes into effect this week.

Matches that have already taken place involving Fairfield have been expunged from the records.

In the action that did take place, the shock result of the week came in the 'A' Premiership where the usually strong Blackley were beaten 8-0 at home by visiting Denton.

Werneth 'A' will have been more than happy to gain a share of the spoils with a 4-4 draw at Stamford 'A' whilst North Manchester 'A' beat Brookdale 'A' 6-2.

Other results

'A' Championship: C&R 6, Oldham 2.

'B' East: Werneth 4, Stamford 4; Denton 5, Blackley 3; Brookdale 3, North Manchester 5.

'B' West: Oldham 7, C&R 1; Castle Hawk 6, Ashton 2.