THEY can dress it up in any way they like, but Belgraves, you are out of order.

On Wednesday, Ian Champion chose to put out a virtual Division One team in a Division Two game against Centrals, who were duly swept aside 11-0.

Centrals, who finished next to bottom in the table last season and are far from the strongest side this campaign despite their early mid-table position, walked out onto the Track and saw Dave Rihoy leading the Bels attack, Sam Cochrane at the heart of defence, Scott Bradford there to drive forward the midfield and Joby Bourgaize and Neil Le Cheminant warming the bench.

‘Oh we had to, we had no other players,’ was the theme of the lame excuse put out by Bels’ new coach.

Codswallop. It was nothing less than shameless, cheap opportunism which does nothing to help the GFA as they try to keep control of the domestic game and stave off further departures to the unaffiliated social leagues.

Champion claimed to have had no option.

But, as I understand it, Bels have enough 16-year-olds to field a team in the under-18 league competition, an under-21 side and a team of veterans.

That is 33 players for a start and then there are normal Division Two regulars.

All told, they have 75 over-16s signed on and, realistically, say the GFA, 55 to 60 to pick a Division Two side from.

But no. Bels thought it clever to give the chance for their first-team boys to boost their confidence, brush up on their passing game against opponents out of their depth and, by the end, their spirits well and truly crushed.

Where is the common sense Belgraves?

You may not have broken any rules, but this is one of the most flagrant breaches of the moral code which exists in any respected sport or league.

The ‘I can do it so I will’ approach gets the game absolutely nowhere.

Regardless of whether it is true or not that at Bels only players who train are eligible to play – and only 14 stepped out for training last Monday making it easy/necessary (you choose) for Champion to play his first-team against Centrals – what Bels did was wrong.

But, of course, Bels were not thinking of their sport, they were thinking only of themselves and gave absolutely no regard to their opponents on the night.

Perhaps the Track club might think long and hard about their actions and while the result has to stand they might consider paying the £35 fine Ryan Prigent (the Centrals goalkeeper) has to pay for being red-carded in tripping Rihoy.

It was interesting to note that in trying to defend his club’s actions, Champion fingered North for doing something similar earlier this season – against them.

What sort of argument is that? Just because one club acts in a crass way, does not excuse you to trump that stupidity.

We are not asking senior coaches to altogether stop using first-team players or island stars in the seconds, because there is often a good reason for giving them a run-out – i.e. returning from injury, illness or suspension – but if they must play them it should be with good reason.

Returning to the bad old days of registrations is not needed either. The coaches have the answer and self-legislation is still the best way.

Footnote:

If Bels really, really had to play their first team against Centrals, why did they not make a real game of it, putting Dave Rihoy centre-half and Sam Cochrane up front, handicap themselves in some manner?

But I guess that doesn’t happen in football.