North Police could be ejected as Greens are hit by call-off curse
The curse of the call-off has come back to haunt Caithness men’s 1st XV.
They had been preparing for the final game of the Caley 1 North Conference season on Saturday – a basement battle against North Police. But the Aberdeen-based outfit got in touch on Thursday to say they could not raise a side.
Last season was blighted for the Greens by a succession of postponements caused by teams pulling out of fixtures at Millbank, culminating in club officials having a series of talks with Scottish Rugby’s Caledonia region organisers.
The 2024/25 North Conference has gone more smoothly for them apart from the home clash versus the service outfit.
North Police were docked four points after calling off from their original scheduled trip to Thurso on January 25. That came after a three-point deduction for not travelling to play Ellon on December 14.
They had previously pulled out of matches with Aberdeenshire and Highland Seconds, citing “non-negotiable operational tasking” reasons.
Saturday’s match would have decided who ended up propping up the conference.
With Caithness sitting second bottom, five points above North Police, the latter would have needed to record a bonus-point victory and denied their hosts any match points to leapfrog them, on the strength of their better points difference.
But the call-off has rendered all permutations academic. North Police have been docked a further five points and face the possibility of being ejected from the league because of their serial no-shows.
The Greens have indicated they still want the fixture played, but the chances of that happening seem remote.
Caithness Seconds were also stood down on Saturday after their scheduled Caley North 3 double-header at Millbank versus Huntly was called off because of the visitors' team-raising problems.
The north-east side incurred a five-point deduction, with the game rescheduled for May 10.
The Yellows are hoping to return to action on Saturday with a home match versus Peterhead. It has a 3pm kick off.