Dispute over after Hosiery Mills agree to a 50 point penalty

At an extraordinary general meeting held at Trent Bridge on Thursday, interim Premier League committee chairman Tony Palfreman confirmed that Mansfield Hosiery Mills had agreed to the 50 point penalty for the coming season.

All fixtures will now proceed as planned with the season set to launch on Saturday, 26th April.

The penalty results from concerns expressed by the clubs about how Mansfield reacted to disciplinary matters in the 2013 season.

These concerns caused the majority of clubs to consider boycotting fixtures against Hosiery Mills.

In December Mills had won an appeal against automatic relegation from the Premier League and a three-year ban for an alleged breach of rules on payments.

Premier League rules state that clubs can pay no more than two professional players and action was taken against Hosiery Mills and a player after it was ruled that the club had made payments to a player registered as an amateur.

However, the club lodged an appeal which was upheld at a hearing by the panel ‘because of a technical matter relating to the original hearing’ and Mills were reinstated.

That meant local rivals Farnsfield’s temporary reprieve from relegation quickly disappeared.

At Thursday’s EGM, Craig Buckingham, chief executive of Red Rock Partnership, was elected as chairman of the Premier League interim committee, which will continue to manage the league until the 2014 AGM in November when elections will be held for officers as usual.

Nottinghamshire veteran Basharat Hassan was also elected as the league’s honorary president for a second successive season.