FOR the first time in the club's 50 year history, Pacific Palms won't field a team in the open men's football competition this year.
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Nine teams will start in the Football Mid North Coast Southern League men's premiership, which will kick-off this Saturday, April 6.
This is down three on last year, Palms, Cundletown and Old Bar.
Palms was a powerhouse in the former Manning Soccer Association open men's competitions for many years.
However, a post on the club's Facebook page on March 21 and labelled urgent, said: "PPFC will not have an open men's team for 2024 if we do not get eight more registrations in by 5pm Friday (March 22) or FMNC will not accept our team nomination and PPFC will not have an open men's side for the first time in forever.''
Football Mid North Coast chairman, Lance Fletcher said he understands that seven of the Palms players from last year were turning out with Southern United in the Newcastle Zone 2 competition.
Southern is represented in three grades, a requirement of taking part in the league.
Mr Fletcher said the FMNC board knew that Southern United's participation in the Newcastle competition could impact on the Southern League.
"But, at the end of the day we need a pathways for these players, because our high performance stops at 18s, so it is good to know they have options for going forward,'' he said.
