WHITBY rugby fanatic Paul Millington was left feeling like he'd been kicked into touch on Saturday when he was forced to miss watching the biggest game of his life.

Paul turns out for Ellesmere Port at standoff and is described by his team-mates as an older and more maverick version of Jonny Wilkinson!

But he is also the manager of Ellesmere Port Rovers U13s FC who play in the town's junior league, and he was unable to watch the Rugby World Cup final because it clashed with his round-ball duties.

After England had booked their place in the showpiece against Australia with victory over France, Paul spent the following week going backwards and forwards between league officials and his side's opponents Crewe Tigers in a bid to move his side's kick-off time from Saturday morning.

Although the league were willing to accommodate him with a later kick-off time, Crewe's pitches were being used by other teams later in the day and Paul was not allowed to move the fixture to another weekend.

Paul's wife Debbie said: 'Paul had been trying to rearrange the game all week but in the end had to miss the final while everyone else was watching. It destroyed him. He'd watched every other game up to the final and has was really excited, but his dreams were shattered. He set the video to tape the match but it was impossible for him to avoid the score because there were people with televisions around the touchline.

'Everyone I know was watching the game, even though most of us hardly know a thing about rugby, yet Paul, who has paid to watch his country on several occasions, was the one who missed out. I can understand why the league have rules about when fixtures must be played, but surely this qualified as special circumstances.'

She added: 'The whole team had to travel down to Crewe in just three cars as Paul struggled to find parents who could travel on the day. Crewe's pitch was block-booked from 10.30am onwards and although they tried to organise the game to be played up here at the Whitby Sports & Social Club for 1pm, the Crewe manager couldn't travel.'

Ian Burns, secretary of the Ellesmere Port Junior League, said: 'We don't force anyone to kick-off at a certain time and it's fine if two teams mutually agree to move their game. We often get requests to alter kickoffs because players have season tickets or it's the derby match, and there is no problem so long as both managers agree with the switch.'