Eynesbury Rovers chief Martin Field reckons Boxing Day football should be scrapped at United Counties League level.

Field does not believe his players earn enough money from playing the game to justify interrupting the festive season.

Rovers have been handed a short Premier Division trip to Huntingdon this year for a late-morning derby date which kicks off at the early time of 11.30am at Jubilee Park.

Several UCL games have been put back 24 hours to Saturday from their original Boxing Day slots, but this fixture is not one of them, much to the dismay of Field.

He said: “If I had my way, there would be no amateur football on Boxing Day.

“People at our level don’t get paid enough to justify it. This is a time for family, not football.

“That said I would rather get the game out of the way early than at 3pm, but there is not enough common sense used.

“I would have thought it would be better for all teams to play on Saturday this year so as players can do as they please on Boxing Day.”

Eynesbury are six places and 10 points worse off than hosts Huntingdon in the UCL Premier Division standings, but Field doesn’t believe those statistics will have much bearing on the action on Friday.

He added: “Form goes out of the window on Boxing Day - it all comes down to who performs better when they are full of turkey and mince pies!

“In all seriousness I can’t ever remember seeing a decent Boxing Day game either.

“We can expect a tough test at Huntingdon, but we need to put in a performance and try to keep our decent run of form going.”