By Carole Dennett
The manager of an Island football team has filmed an 18-minute video claiming his team has been victimised and treated unfairly following its suspension from Island football.
High Park FC ‘gaffer’, Stuart Woodmore, published the video, which includes extremely strong language, on the team’s YouTube channel. In it he defends the conduct of his team, whilst lashing out at local media reports and volunteers from other local football clubs for High Park’s suspension from the Harwoods-Vauxhall IW Saturday League, the first such action for 40 years.
The team has received 11 red cards in just 13 games, which he admits “Ain’t the greatest”, but claims “everybody else got away with everything”. Discussing four red cards received when playing against Vectis FC on December 9, he said: “We had the Vectis players’ mums on the sideline, absolutely giving it large,” and explained: “We hit the self-explode button and there is nothing I can do about this – it is what it is,” adding that other clubs “don’t like it up ‘em; don’t like how physical we are.”
He believes his team is being victimised, saying: “The witch-hunt can’t go on no more; we ain’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We are what we are.”
The IW Division Football Association (IWDFA) has said that, if conduct didn’t improve, the team wouldn’t be allowed back into the league. Now, having submitted his own complaints, Woodmore believes Hampshire FA will be required to investigate the IWDFA over his allegations which include corruption, fraud and failing to follow proper procedures. Claiming to have received information about the latter anonymously from an IWDFA insider, he likened the situation to the ITV drama “Mr Bates vs The Post Office”.
Woodmore describes High Park as the “Isle of Wight top flight men’s football team”, but says: “We play sport differently to other teams; we go for our tackles, and if you want it then we’ll give it to ya. But that’s just frowned upon.”
It’s not yet clear when, or indeed if, High Park FC will be allowed to return to the pitch, but they have been told not to expect a fixture on January 27.
Worried about “a glut of players” wanting to leave the club, he says the FA has ruled they can’t leave whilst the team is under suspension.
Discussing the club’s social media output he says: “When we was in Div 2 everything was fine; we could post pics and clips of goals. But where we are in Div One and getting beaten 5-0 what am I meant to do? I have to put up the red cards, and the tackles – I have to keep what we are building going.”
Mr Woodmore describes himself as a “passionate” man and is clearly angry. A May post on the team’s X (formerly Twitter) account implies that passion extends to the virtual pitch. It shows a game controller smashed into a wall after a nearly 5-hour long game of FIFA FUT Champs, with the hashtag #uncontrollableRAGE.
Hampshire FA confirmed that charges have been raised in accordance with FA regulations, while a representative for IWFDA said that all procedures have been followed correctly.