Less than six months after they announced a takeover and new technical team, FC Boca Gibraltar have been removed from the Gibraltar National League after failing to fulfil two domestic fixtures in under a week.

Photo (C) William Gracia

Boca, who had announced back in June a new technical team and sponsorship deal with “Total Sports Management”, have had a deeply troubled season so far – as well as the two fixtures they have failed to fulfil, they also forfeited two further games for breaches of the Home Grown Player rule, and the side, managed by Aaron Edwards after the announced managerial team of Stephen Vaughan Jr and Luke Purcell seemingly ran into complications with regards their being in the stadium, were 10th with four points from six games at the time of today’s announcement.

Today’s news brings to the end a troubled few seasons under multiple ownership groups for Boca, who have run the risk of being kicked out of the league on a number of occasions – and eyebrows were raised at the time abroad when the deal was announced.

FG understands that there was no confirmation whoever was set to be owning Boca, had actually passed the fit and proper persons test from the Gibraltar FA, and after players claimed they were owed two months of wages when they refused to play on the weekend vs Mons Calpe, the writing was clearly on the wall.

As for the league, there will now be 11 teams instead of 12, and any points accrued by teams who beat Boca, as well as goals scored and conceded, will now be removed – an updated league table is below.

FC Boca Juniors’ days in Gibraltar football look to be numbered as the Gibraltar FA confirm their forfeit against Mons Calpe this afternoon.

What was supposed to be an interesting contest between two teams looking at that extra-spot in Europe, has now been called off. News reached us last night of a possible forfeit on the cards with the Boca players potentially refusing to play.

It is believed that the Boca players have refused to play due to unpaid wages which stretch for over two months. The owners reportedly tried to strike a deal with the squad last night and this morning with a payment of one month being sent next Tuesday but to no avail.

Boca currently find themselves in a hole too deep to climb up with the club currently appealling their forfeit against Glacis, and now today’s cancellation is surely the nail in the coffin for their existence in Gibraltar football.

FG caught up with Boca captain Lennie Armstrong to get his thoughts on last week’s draw to Lincoln Red Imps, life in Gibraltar and more.

Great defending and even better goalkeeping thwarted Lincoln’s bombarding attacks last week to secure a 0-0 draw – we asked Lennie how he felt his team played, “Everyone was brilliant. We stuck to our game plan we had worked on in training and all the lads came together and put 100% in. We could’ve even nicked a goal towards the end which would’ve made it even better.”

We asked Lennie how he has found life at his new club Boca in a new country like Gibraltar, “It’s been pretty easy, to be honest. The local lads have been really welcoming and we’ve got on well which helped me and the other new foreign lads settle in. Gibraltar is a great place and I’m really liking it here. I’ve played abroad before in a few countries and I’d say I’ve enjoyed Gibraltar the most out of everywhere I’ve been.”

Boca next play Europa Point this Saturday, Lennie told us about his side’s preparations – “There’s a good atmosphere in training and we want to build on our result against Lincoln. We have to keep our standards whoever we are playing and I believe we can kick on starting Saturday.”

Lastly, we asked the 20-year old what he hopes to achieve this season – “We’re still taking every game one at a time. However, if we can achieve a top 6 finish I think that would be considered a successful season for our new-look side. We have a good young hungry group of players and don’t see why that isn’t achievable.”