St Agnes' have been reinstated into the Cornwall Senior Cup, following their appeal to Football Association today.

The club had been expelled from this season and next season's competition for stealing a number of items from the Highwayman pub in Dobwalls, on their way back from a preliminary round victory over St Stepehns Borough.

Despite being reinstated back into the competition the club still faces a £200 fine and the landlord of the Highwayman has said he may now press criminal charges following today's decision.

A Statement from Cornwall FA on the Outcome of the Appeal by The FA, said: "At a hearing held on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, members of an FA Disciplinary Appeal Board dismissed the majority of the grounds appealed on by St Agnes FC.

"In the original case, St Agnes were found to have brought the game into disrepute by not preventing some of their players from stealing items from a pub on their way home from a victory in the Cornwall Senior Cup against St Stephens Borough in September 2011. The club were fined £200 and expelled from the Cornwall Senior Cup.

"St Agnes had appealed that they had not had a fair hearing and that the fine and sanctions were disproportionate to the offence. The decision today by The FA at an appeal board held in Devon agreed that the misconduct charges were proven, that the £200 fine imposed was not excessive, but ordered Cornwall FA to reinstate St Agnes to the Cornwall Senior Cup competition."

Dawn Aberdeen, Chief Executive Officer from Cornwall FA said, "We have always maintained that these proven allegations were of a sufficient seriousness to bring a charge of misconduct against the club. We have a duty to make sure people involved with the game, including those under 18 years old, are guided by their club to behave with respect. I am satisfied that The FA agree that these actions were reprehensible. On the issue whether Cornwall FA acted proportionately in their sanctions, we accept The FA decision."

The misconduct charges arose from an incident reported by Simon McKernan, landlord of the Highwayman pub in Dobwalls. Members of the party from St Agnes stole about 20 items including a wheelbarrow, a pool cue, five pint glasses, a karaoke song book, a dartboard, a pool triangle, a toilet brush set, soft toy, vase with artificial flowers, child’s painting set, a stool and a number of posters. Most of these have been now returned or replaced.

Mr McKernan gave this reaction to today’s decision, “When I reviewed my CCTV footage from that evening, I was so appalled by this club’s behaviour that I reported the incident. I have always maintained that, as a football person myself, football should deal with this type of behaviour. I should emphasise that I did report the incident to the police and was assigned a crime reference number. My initial feeling was to avoid a criminal case for the people involved if football took the case seriously. After today’s decision, I am still considering whether to press charges.”