Paget Lions will no longer be using Southampton Oval as a home ground after making the switch to White Hill Field.

In a statement released on Thursday, Jaime Ramsay, the Paget president, said the move follows an incident at Southampton Oval on November 23, when one of their players was chased around the field by six men carrying weapons.

The security breach led to the postponement of the Premier Division fixture against Devonshire Colts. On Monday, Rangers announced that the six identified individuals had been barred from club premises, with the prohibition orders ranging from two years to life.

“In light of the incident that occurred at Southampton Rangers during our last home game on November 23, Paget Lions Community Club has expressed serious concerns and has made the decision to discontinue hosting our home games at the club,” Ramsay said.

“Over the past six years, we have enjoyed a successful partnership with Southampton Rangers since our return to the league under the club’s previous administration.

“However, the decision to seek an alternative venue has been building for some time among our executive team due to rising game-day expenses at Southampton Rangers and the recent events have now brought this change to the forefront.

“It is important to note that our players, coaching staff and executive leadership are fully aligned in supporting a move to another venue to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved.

“Our priority is to continue the season with a focus on football in an environment where our players and fans can feel safe and enjoy the game.

“We extend our sincere thanks to Southampton Rangers for their partnership and support over the past six years.”

Darren Burchall, the Southampton Rangers Sports Club president, expressed his sadness over Paget’s departure.

“We are sad to see Paget leaving,” Burchall told The Royal Gazette.

“They have been good tenants and they’ve taken care of their responsibilities. It’s unfortunate we had the incident that happened on November 23 and there were one or two minor issues that we couldn’t come to an agreement on.

Happily for them, they have found somewhere else to play their games. We did make money whenever Paget played their home matches at our club, but that’s not our focus right now.

“Our focus is getting the community involved and finding other streams of income, which we are working on. We’ve got some positive things in the pipeline that are coming up.

“Next year, somebody else will come and play because we’ve already been speaking to other clubs who would like to use our field.”

Paget’s moving White Hill Field, home of Somerset Eagles means they will also be sharing the field with Dandy Town. Jarreau Hayward’s side have been forced to look for an alternative venue after Goose Gosling Field was removed from the list of approved grounds by the Bermuda Football Association.

Boulevard Blazers, who were also affected by the unavailability of the Bermuda Athletic Association facility, have moved to Devonshire Rec.

In the First Division, Robin Hood have switched their home fixtures to PHC Field, while Vasco da Gama have found a new home at Police Field.