The team will now be without the top two players in Britain, as Alex Bogdanovic has also decided not to participate, having had his Lawn Tennis Association funding cut and been refused a wildcard into Wimbledon despite meeting the LTA criteria.
In the meantime, Alex Cornelissen was captaining the Farley, and he decided to take the ship out to sea for a couple of days to patrol for illegal long-lining within the reserve.
After United's 2-1 win over Aston Villa, manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed he knew weeks ago that Rooney would not be starting the Wembley showpiece, having decided to pair Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen in attack.