TAME Valley has pulled out its first team out of the North West Counties Squash League as a consequence of Covid-19.
As the teams return to action later this month following an 18-month lay-off, there will be no side in the first division.
At that level, Tame Valley paid two professionals with the three remaining places in the first team going to the club’s top players.
Club spokesman John Hesten said: “We had a meeting of our committee and decided not to pay professional players.
“We are not alone as there are four or five teams which have decided not to have professionals.
“It has been a tough 18 months, especially as we are only a small club.”
Tame Valley will still field five teams in the NWCSL – they had six pre-pandemic.
The three first-team players will switch to what was the second team which plays in division two of the league.
Tame Valley has about 50 registered players for the league teams and probably around a further 20 who play socially.
In a communique from league official Geoff Walton, the NWCSL informed members that they have lost a number of clubs and teams for 2021-22 season, but the league still has 231 teams from 76 clubs.
Geoff added division one has been hit especially hard and will only have eight teams competing.
He wrote: “As you can imagine it has been difficult to construct a league allowing for the losses incurred while maintaining the framework and structure going forward.
“The main impact has been in the lower divisions of four and five. We have had to combine four and five Central North, North West and South East.
“Let’s hope we can put the last 18 months behind us and enjoy the competition of the coming season.”
Divisions two to five start on September 23 and division one on October 12.
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