Grants Braes has pulled out of the Football South premiership.
The Dunedin club was set to rejoin the league after a six-year absence but has pulled the pin because of a lack of players.
Grants Braes will look to put a side in the division one competition.
The premiership had expanded to 11 teams this season with the addition of Grants Braes and Wanaka but now that Grants Braes has pulled out there will be no need for a bye in the league.
Grants Braes senior men's co-ordinator Robert Strang said the club had hoped to field a side in the premiership but in the end was left with no option to pull out as the club did not have enough players.
". . . we just did not have the players,'' he said.
The club had well below 10 players committed to the team and so had to pull the plug.
He said it was disappointing for the Ocean Grove-based club, which had ambitions, but it had to be realistic.
The league was set to start on March 23 with 10 teams.
Football South has proposed a new structure for next year's competition. There would be a championship competition below an eight team premiership. That should give plenty of life to this year's premiership as the bottom two teams will drop to next year's championship.
This year's premiership will start with a round robin with the top three sides at the end of the first round going into the one-round South Island league in which
five teams from the Mainland region will play against the top three southern sides.
