Highland's Dave Carson wants harsher penalties on "no-show" clubs
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Three sides – Carnoustie, Caithness and Hillfoots – have called off against Highland this season citing player shortages, with Carson claiming a greater deterrent needs to be put in place.
He has also suggested that if the difficulty in fielding a team is so chronic some teams should consider dropping down a level and rebuilding, like Highland did two years ago.
Currently, teams are deducted four points for failing to fulfill a fixture but the game still has to be rescheduled and played, meaning Highland and other teams have to find a spare weekend in their fixture calendar.
Highland need to fit in games against Carnoustie and Caithness, with Hillfoots already pencilled in for the end of February. Carson is keen to avoid a May finish to the season.
The club are exploring the possibility of playing games during the RBS Six Nations at the start of February, where Highland have two free weekends. However, Carson would rather not be in this situation to start with.
“There’s not a league committee meeting until January 16 and maybe they could think about bigger penalties for some of these sides,” he said.
“If you’re sitting there in mid-table, being deducted four points isn’t going to make a huge difference.
“But if they’re struggling to get players regularly, then each team has to look at themselves, be it at recruitment or maybe by dropping down a level to rebuild.
“It probably wasn’t a bad thing for us to go down – it’s taken us three years to get the first and second teams flying but it’s doable.”
Highland’s last game was a 50-0 drubbing of Strathmore on December 5 and they are not due back in action until a week on Saturday when they travel to Dunfermline.
Carson concedes the set-up this season, which sees both the first and second-string sides competing for titles, is a pleasant headache to have.
“We’ve got more players than we need every week and it certainly makes our lives easier,” Carson added. “It’s certainly better than scrambling about on a Friday night trying to get a team together.”
