YORK College’s 3G pitch is unlikely to provide a permanent home base for York & District Football League champions Hamilton Panthers next season.

Panthers have expressed an interest in defending their title on the all-weather artificial surface during 2009/10, but the FA are unlikely to sanction such a move, believing it would represent an “unfair advantage” over visiting teams.

Growing frustration over the quality of their Little Knavesmire base means Panthers would have welcomed a switch to the Sim Balk Lane site but, despite England having played on a similar pitch in Russia during their last European Championship qualifying campaign and York College regularly fulfilling fixtures there, they are likely to remain at their traditional home next season. York & District League fixture secretary Colin Atkinson said: “The FA have the final say on these matters. I understand that the 3G surface is the only one acceptable to them but, as it can take players time to adjust to the surface, they will probably object to one team using the facilities for all their home games as it will be seen as giving them an unfair advantage.

“There would be no objection to the occasional game being played there provided that both teams agree beforehand.”

Panthers, who also run junior sides from the ages of six to 19, played a match on that basis at the 3G venue last season and accept the sentiments of the league and FA with club secretary Phil Sanderson saying: “The college gives us a great alternative because of our location.

“It would be a good base for us and our men’s team would love to play on the 3G pitch. But I can see why the FA would think it would be an advantage because it takes about ten minutes to get used to the bounce and I can understand them wanting to be fair to everybody.”

Sanderson added, though, that the club remain disappointed with their current home.

He said: “As the name suggests, the pitches are in a mire. The standing water seems to have got worse in recent years and we can lose the pitch for up to two months a season.

“The surface is undulating and not very good and it’s not very well maintained either. They only cut the grass infrequently and we had to call off a game last season the day after Bonfire Night because there were discarded sparklers that had not been cleared away still lying around.

“We pay £2,500 a year to the council and help maintain the pitches by reseeding the goalmouths but, because it’s public land, other teams come and use them for pre-season.

“The more we improve the surfaces at our own cost, the more people seem to come along and damage them.”