A non league side stunned fans after they refuse to play when going down 8-0 in a local derby.
Abingdon Town, who sit bottom of Hellenic League Division One East and won just twice all season, travelled across town to second-placed Abingdon United.
United took the lead after four minutes and quickly made themselves 4-0 up inside the opening 14 minutes.
After missing a chance from 2 yards out to make it 5-0, United then put the ball in the back of the net another four times, before the whistle blew for the interval.
HT: 8-0 United
— Abingdon United FC (@AbingdonUtd) December 28, 2019
Town’s players bizarrely chose against coming out for the second half and it’s believed that they left their kit behind in the changing rooms when leaving the ground..
“In my 30 years of football I’ve never known anything like that to happen,” United secretary John Blackmore told BBC Sport.
“The game started off fine, there was no nastiness or anything like that, but we were 8-0 up at half-time and then their manager and players didn’t come out for the second half,” added Blackmore.
“There was a reasonable crowd there of about 160 people and they were as gobsmacked as anybody else.
“We want to win a game, but not in this sort of fashion.”
“After all the problems we had last year we hoped we had turned a corner and could stabilise the club,” said Brian Kirk, the club’s chairman and secretary, who was not at the game.
“This is incredibly disappointing to hear, but I can’t make too many more comments until I can get hold of the manager.”
BBC Sport say that the Hellenic League have told them that it would review the match report and decide if any action needs to be taken against Abingdon Town as a result of the game.
Abingdon Town have said: “After yesterday’s events at @AbingdonUtd, we are currently trying to find out what caused the walk out at half time. The manager and players did not represent the clubs wishes.
“We responded to the BBC yesterday, and cannot add to these comments as of yet.
“We have not directly heard from the 1st team manager.
“We are clearly disappointed, and continue to find ourselves in a tough position and struggling to recover from previous club management. This has not helped us get back on our feet.
“We apologise to everyone who turned up hoping to watch 90 minutes of football and we on the board agree this is embarrassing and not in the spirit of the game.”
Fans took to voice their anger and shocked towards Abingdon Town for choosing not to come out for the second half of their non league local derby against Abingdon United when 8-0 down – check out what they had to say on the next page.
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