Maccabi League chairman David Wolff has spoken of his disappointment after a series of withdrawals saw the world's biggest Jewish league reduced to 53 teams.

The league hit a high of 65 earlier in the millennium but the demise of Kenton Maccabi this week saw them join Oakwood EDRS A, Golders Green, Scrabble, Redbridge Jewish Care B and Chigwell Athletic C as teams that folded during the close season.

Two others, Real MAL and Life FC, have amalgamated while FC Team A moved into Saturday football.
Consequently the league agreed to lose a division with teams previously in Division Five joining the division above.

Wolff said: "The league is disappointed with the recent withdrawals prior to the start of the season which has forced us into a complete restructure of the set up. With today's computerisation, this has not caused too much problem except that it was impossible to stop the handbook, which had already gone to print.
"There seems to be a trend away from 11-a-side football generally throughout the country and the JC MSFL is being sucked into that net.

"The league remains very strong, given the fact that it is specialised, and even though there has been a temporary numerical setback, I have no doubt that numbers will increase in future seasons."