Faversham Town chucked out of this season’s FA Vase competition after breaching rules by using on-loan Sheppey United player Jefferson Aibangbee

A non-league club from Kent have expressed their “deep regret” at being chucked out of this season’s FA Vase due to fielding an ineligible player.

Ambitious Southern Counties East Premier Division Faversham Town released a statement on Tuesday, confirming the news.

The Lilywhites had beaten Horsham YMCA in the First Qualifying Round - but had broken rules while doing so!

Their scheduled FA Vase Second Qualifying Round tie against Southern Combination Premier Division Loxwood was postponed last Saturday after they were charged. Faversham attended a hearing on Tuesday but were unsuccessful.

The news is a bitter blow for the Lilywhites, with manager Sammy Moore having set out to go all the way to the Wembley final in the competition.

FA Vase rule 15(i)(i) states “A player on a temporary (loan) transfer, including a player who is registered on a scholarship for work experience, is ineligible to play in the competition” with the Lilywhites having already fielded forward Jefferson Aibangbee - on a season-long loan from Sheppey - in the competition.

A Faversham statement by chairman Gary Smart on behalf of their board read: “It was brought to our attention a week ago from a media outlet that Faversham Town Football Club had fielded an ineligible player on August, 26, 2023 in the FA Vase game away to Horsham YMCA.

“After hearing this news, which was very concerning, the board looked into all of the rules relating to the FA Vase competition. It states in the rules that no short-term temporary loan players are permitted to play in the FA Vase competition.

“The club did not believe we had a short-term loan player. The situation was we had a player on a dual-reg/long-term loan that was permitted to play for Faversham Town for the