WORCESTER Raiders has been charged by the West Midlands (Regional) League (WMRL) over the abandonment of a match in March – with the outcome set to decide the title.

Raiders had been winning 3-1 at Bustleholme in the second minute of added time when referee Pete Durnall brought proceedings to a premature halt following a brawl involving players and staff of both clubs and members of the crowd on March 19.

Separate cases against both clubs got found proven by an FA Disciplinary Commission on Thursday, May 2 with Raiders fined £175 for failing to control players, staff or spectators despite having entered a not-guilty plea.

Raiders had seven days to decide whether to appeal that call with chairman Kevin Jenkins indicating the club was still considering its options as of lunchtime today (Wednesday).

READ MORE | Bustleholme v Raiders ends in a brawl

READ MORE | Raiders fined over Bustleholme brawl

The abandonment led to the match being scrubbed from the records, meaning Raiders trail Division One title rivals Darlaston Town by two points with the season now over and need the WMRL to award them the Bustleholme victory to win the league.

It was only after the FA case had been heard that the WMRL could act with Raiders and Bustleholme now accused of falling foul of rule 20 E of the league’s standard code. Any club found guilty misses out on the points available from the abandoned game.

Raiders have denied the league’s charge and requested a personal hearing which is scheduled to take place on Monday evening (May 13) ahead of the league’s management committee meeting.

A decision is likely to be taken on the night with the clubs set to discover their fate on Tuesday (May 14), although the whole process could be held up if Raiders choose to appeal the decision made by an FA Disciplinary Commission last week.

The league rule in full reads: “The management committee shall review all competition matches abandoned in cases where it is consequent upon the conduct of either or both teams.

“Where it is to the advantage of the competition and does no injustice to either club, the management committee shall be empowered to order the score at the time of the abandonment to stand.

“In all cases where the management committee (is) satisfied that a competition match was abandoned owing to the conduct of one team or its club member(s) they shall be empowered to award the points for the competition match to the opponent.

“In cases where a competition match has been abandoned owing to the conduct of both teams or their club member(s), the management committee shall rule that neither team will be awarded any points for that competition match and it shall not be replayed.

“No fine(s) can be applied by the management committee for an abandoned competition match.”

Should the league’s decision go against Raiders, they would have 14 days to appeal to the national Football Association.

Jenkins said it would be "inappropriate to say anything before we go to the meeting on Monday".