Highland head coach Dave Carson wants honesty from Hillfoots after latest call-off
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The call came on Tuesday night from Hillfoots that they could not raise a team for Saturday’s game in Inverness and Carson, whose team has been beset by call-offs this season, has urged action to prevent further clubs suffering fixture backlogs.
Hillfoots were deducted three points for calling off their game with Highland in October, a week after rearranging the fixture. They will face further punishment from the league committee after the latest postponement which could see any re-arranged game played in May.
Such is the concern from Canal Park over facing the club again, Carson wants to play them at home first and have assurances that they will be able to field a team, rather than go to the expense of arranging travel to Clackmannanshire and have Hillfoots withdraw.
The Highland head coach concedes he has never known anything like the fixture saga his side have faced this season, with Caithness and Carnoustie also pulling out of games against them.
“Hillfoots need to make a decision as a club. With this next three or four-point deduction they’ll be relegated whatever happens,” said Carson. “So if they can’t raise a team, they should do the honest thing and pull out. Everyone gets messed about otherwise.
“If they can’t raise a team now I can’t see them doing it in May.
“They’ll be told to replay it again and we want them to come up here first, because we don’t want to waste money on going down there.”
Hillfoots have not played Highland home or away this season and any provisional date for a game is likely to be in May. Carson is desperate to fight against that as their away game with the Tillicoultry side is already pencilled in for May 7.
The one bonus it allows Highland is to give players a week’s rest after the Caledonia Shield win over Glenrothes, with first XV players doing limited training this week.
“The players have taken it on the chin,” added Carson. “You build them up through the week then get the bombshell of the game being off. The committee have tried their hardest to get it sorted.”
There is a crucial senior game this weekend as Highland’s second XV travel to play Banff in BT Caledonia League Division Three North.
This first-versus-second encounter will go a long way to determining the title race and if Highland can win, they will open up a commanding lead at the top of the table.
At home the attention switches to the tour visit of Dutch club Zwolle who will visit Inverness over the weekend.
The club has arranged a welcome tonight to watch the Wales versus France match, while tomorrow there will be a match with Highland Veterans at noon, followed by the viewing of the remaining Six Nations matches.
On Sunday the tourists will have a round of golf and a tour of Tomatin Distillery. All Highland Veterans will be in attendance and all club members are invited to come along tomorrow to watch the fun.
There will be more serious rugby on Sunday as the under-16s move onto another knockout competition as they play Caithness in the Caledonia Cup. The youngsters might be disappointed about losing out to Ayr in the National Cup final last weekend but they did not disgrace themselves and are a big credit to the club and indeed themselves. They will go into this match as big favourites with national cup and league experience to back them up.
The under-14s and under-13s travel through to Ellon for a couple of friendly matches while at Canal Park the Minis and Micros will train as usual.
