Shropshire bowls club Ifton have been given 14 days to sort out their attitude to the KBM Oswestry League – hopefully once and for all.

The latest twist in a saga that has run for 12 months came at the league’s AGM on Monday at Whittington BC when the St Martins club’s bid to have its A and B teams restored was not rejected . . . but not approved.

And it’s a situation that league general secretary John Brayne admits is a ‘mess’.

It was at the Oswestry annual meeting last year that a desire to force Ifton A and B to play their fixtures in divisions one and two on Tuesday nights – in line with all other teams – finally got the go-ahead.

But Ifton failed to fulfil all their early games and were eventually suspended from the league by Oswestry’s management committee.

After consultation with county chairman Barry Jennings and secretary Mo Corley, that led to a new rule proposed by the management that stresses “all teams, without exception, must be able and willing to play their fixtures on the nights designated by the league.”

That was approved by an overwhelming majority at Monday’s AGM, after a counter proposal from Ifton aimed at giving some flexibility in fixtures failed to gain a seconder.

But minutes later an Ifton application to have their two teams that were suspended last year restored to the league produced a debate which ended with the St Martins club given a 14-day ultimatum to decide what they are going to do.

League general secretary John Brayne admitted: “It’s a mess – but it’s nothing to do with the committee. We have been confronted by the fact that teams don’t want to play against Ifton on Thursdays.”

He knows that many league clubs want to see Ifton back in the league, but they can only return by accepting the new rule.

Ifton spokesman Terry Williams said they just wanted to be treated the same as other clubs with more than two teams playing on one green who are allowed by the league – quite rightly in his opinion – to play fixtures on different nights to the schedule.

“I’ll take it back to the lads and they will decide what we do now – but it’s all very sad,” said Williams.

Ellesmere’s application to enter a B team in division six was accepted, but the 2010 structure cannot be finalised until Ifton decide what to do.