HADLEIGH'S troubled season continues as the club met this week to spell out their options after failing to meet a second league fixture.The club missed their league clash with Harlow earlier this month due to a lack of front row players and have been warned that if they miss one more fixture they will have to leave the London leagues.

HADLEIGH'S troubled season continues as the club met this week to spell out their options after failing to meet a second league fixture.

The club missed their league clash with Harlow earlier this month due to a lack of front row players and have been warned that if they miss one more fixture they will have to leave the London leagues.

The availability of players has been a huge problem at Layham Road this season and the club has been relying on players from the garrison in Colchester to plug the gaps.

However, with these players away on military duties and another five missing from the squad for the Harlow match, the club recognise the to concentrating on recruiting players from the Hadleigh area.

Chairman John Halls said: “The match against Harlow showed the stark reality that as soon as we do not have access to players from Colchester, we do not have enough players.

“We have to stop relying on the army and find more local players.

“The decision by Suffolk RU to allow the match against Bury earlier in the year to count as a double header (league and Cup) really knocked us.

“The club as a whole was hopeful, and the players really wanted to be part of that competition.

“We decided that we needed to make a decision about the future of the club, and intended to call an EGM, but we needed to give 14 days notice to do this, so a general meeting was called to give us a chance to let all members and players know about the current situation.”

He added: “This meeting was just a chance for us to explain the situation to all members and players, and to make them aware of the options that are open to us.”

Hadleigh could drop from the league, and start to work their way back up from Suffolk Merit League 2 next season, a similar situation to the one Felixstowe found themselves in just a few years ago.

The club also have option of putting out just one XV each weekend. Hadleigh's 2nd XV currently sit bottom of Suffolk Merit 1.

This would give the club a bigger pool of players to select from, and hopefully create more competition for places in the squad.

Following the meeting, were everybody was given a chance to air their views, the committee hope to make a decision in the coming weeks.