It is almost as if AFC Wimbledon’s widely-publicised opposition to the new-look EFL Trophy got punished when the draw came out on Wednesday morning.

Also paired with Plymouth and Newport, they face a 395-mile midweek round trip for a match against Swansea City U21s in a supposedly regionalised group section.

Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are among the teams that have rejected invitations to field a young side in the competition just as, by the way, all three did for the short-lived Full Members Cup in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Despite their honourable withdrawals, conceivably, a tournament set up to give teams in the bottom two tiers of English football the chance of a day out at Wembley could end up with teams representing Chelsea and Everton.

Matthew Breach, chairman of the Dons Trust, was an especially vocal critic of the farcical format – which finally give Premier League clubs who have been stockpiling talent a chance to give those players senior experience – fearing it is a stepping stone for academy teams appearing in a new League Three.

But it’s about time other clubs in the newly-rebranded English Football League grew some balls and started standing up for their rights.

Perhaps AFC Wimbledon’s history makes them more likely to shout about injustices from the rooftop, given that the club’s very existence came from their forbearers being hijacked for that franchising experiment.

That campaigning spirit has this week taken them to the brink of getting their own ground in Merton, with new Mayor of London Sadiq Khan having given every indication that after the current 14-day consultation period he will reverse predecessor Boris Johnson’s decision.

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But they Wimbledon should not be taking on this folly on their own. EFL clubs should be standing united against changes which only benefit Premier League clubs and shouting about how wrong it is from the rooftops.

If they really want to make a point, they should field their own U21 sides or even schoolboy teams for the fixtures against academy sides.

Because if they don’t stand up to this outrage, it may not be long before they find themselves playing academy sides every other week.