Bulls Withdraw From FA Cup

Wednesday, 6 July 2022 13:00

Jersey Bulls will not play in this year's FA Cup.

The qualification round draw is being made later this week.

The club says while the decision was a hard one and made with a heavy heart, this is a pragmatic move toward achieving its ongoing ambitions.

In a statement - the Bulls say with a lack of fixture foresight, regular flight cancellations, and the fact that a successful campaign will lead to a late-season fixture backlog, the club is choosing instead to focus on the league and FA Vase.

Gary Freeman's men played 58 matches last season. 28 of them were away from home and 11 were midweek.

FA Cup replays have to be played if the first tie ends in a draw.

"The current FA Cup replay set-up favours clubs on the mainland rather than island teams, in addition to the limited reclaim of travel expenses.

The Bulls will channel club funds into prioritising the first teams footballing commitments."

The club says it fully anticipates taking part in the competition next season, 'providing these footballing issues are laid to rest.'

"It’s been such a hard decision to reach as a board, management team and players. We have agonised over it. Everyone naturally wants to take part in the FA Cup – it’s such an amazing competition and we thoroughly enjoyed our run last season.

The FA Vase is managed differently to the FA Cup, with matches played just once a month, with no replays until you are successfully through to the final or knocked out. This just makes more sense for us right now." - Russell Le Feuvre, Chairman.

Jersey Bulls does want to be the first club from the Crown Dependencies to enter the FA Youth Cup and is trying to raise £30,000 to fund that venture.