Eccleshill United are still awaiting a date for their meeting with the authorities regarding their overseas players.

The players began the season for the Eagles, but their inclusion seems to have stirred up a hornet’s nest Mark Ellis is running a coaching academy in conjunction with Richmond University and, as it is based in Leeds, he wanted his young players to experience the cut and thrust of league football to enhance their development.

As the former Bantams winger is director of football at Eccleshill United, it appeared to be a match made in heaven.

However, the powers that be were soon looking into the minutiae of the arrangement and slapped a ban on the club playing the college kids.

When the Telegraph & Argus contacted the FA, they declined to comment.

That is not unusual on individual cases, and as there is no new date for a meeting between all involved parties at their offices at Wembley, after they asked for a rescheduling, it is common practice for the FA to keep its own counsel.

However, the T&A understands that the registering of the foreign national college boys by the Eagles has raised questions the game’s governing bodies have no answers to.

The club gained clearance for more than a dozen non-EU students from USA, Canada and one from Burmuda. They are all in the UK on Tier Four (T4) visas and that prohibits them from professional football.

Though Eccleshill are non-league semi-professional, clubs in and around step six of the non-league ladder may have contract players.

The FA accepts that the Eagles have no players on contract but the wider scenario is that other clubs around the UK could have contract players, so Eccleshill is a test case.

The football authorities and the UK Border Agency are getting together to set out a definitive ruling on this.

They hope to have the guidelines issued in time for the start of the next campaign.

Then it will be up to individual clubs, players and respective leagues to look at each case on individual merit.

If they sign a player, they will have to prove that it does not contravene the rules regarding their T4 status.

If it does, the player could face deportation, while the club and the respective league could also face sanctions.