Heworth ARLC are threatening to pull out of next year's Accident Cup following their controversial defeat in last week's semi-final.

Player-coach Brendan Carlyle says there is even a possibility of withdrawing from this year's York and District Cup as well in protest at the refereeing standards.

The Villagers lost 20-16 to New Earswick All Blacks at White Rose Avenue but had two tries and a goal controversially disallowed by referee Stuart Evans, who also played almost half an hour of injury time.

Heworth player-coach Brendan Carlyle said: "I think the club committee will be thinking very hard about it. I would say it is very possible they won't be involved next time if that's the carry-on. It might be a heat of the moment thing but they weren't very happy.

"We're risking our players for that and you need every player you have at this time of year in the league."

He added: "I thought some of the (refereeing) decisions were absolutely disgusting. From the committee down to the coaching staff we could not believe what was going on.

"We were out there playing for an hour and 50 minutes. We had two tries disallowed and a goal called wide when the ball sailed straight between the posts.

"It was more embarrassing than anything else.

"Alfie Hill (assistant-coach) said he did not want to be involved again the way it was set-up."

Referee Evans said he would be willing to talk to Heworth about last week's match but insisted he was fair-minded.

As for disallowed tries, he said: "The first one I was dead in line and called a forward pass and blew the whistle straight away. The other time, the Heworth player kicked through and was taken out.

"For me, New Earswick had it covered and there was no chance Heworth could have scored a try, so I awarded Heworth a penalty, which Carl Potter goaled."

As for the disallowed goal, he said: "The laws of the game state that if the touch judges both have their flags down, I can not award a goal. I had my own view, but I had to go with their decision."

As for the stoppage time, he said: "The most important part of the game is the welfare of all players and if a player is injured irrespective of how long it takes, I will stop the game."

He added: "I will be self-assessing my game and there was an aspect in the general running of the game that I will rectify this weekend, but as far as I'm concerned everybody got a fair crack. If people are not satisfied they are welcome to talk to me about it."

Updated: 10:38 Thursday, February 12, 2004