The Lincolnshire Football Association and Scunthorpe United Football Club wish to release the following joint statement...
At a recent meeting of the Lincolnshire FA Cup and Competitions Sub Committee a request from Scunthorpe United to be exempt from participating in the competition for the 2016/17 season was discussed.
While the club remains fully supportive of their parent association and are keen to work closely with it, the club feel unable to compete in the County FA's most prestigious cup competition for purely operational considerations.
Officials of the two organisations met subsequent to that meeting and the committee have accepted the position with the Iron agreeing to pay the appropriate exemption fee.
It was further agreed by the Cup and Competition's Sub Committee that the exemption fee would be used to reward winners of the matches involving the eight remaining most senior clubs within Lincolnshire.
Holders, Gainsborough Trinity, will compete with the other seven most senior clubs within the county, namely, Boston United, Grantham Town, Grimsby Town, Lincoln City, Lincoln United, Stamford AFC and Spalding United.