Ready for a return
Friendly league on the cards
MOVES are underway to introduce a Bridgend County Alliance Football League when friendly matches are permitted from next Monday, writes Tony Poole.
Pencoed Athletic are the frontrunners in the move through their manager Mark Powell, and the Felindre Road club are writing to the FAW to establish if the initiative has their blessing.
The FAW have previously announced that friendly matches against sides in the same leagues are permissible from Monday, and Pencoed now want to take it a step further and play these matches on a league basis.
Bridgend County has nine teams in the South Wales Alliance – Caerau, Cefn Cribwr, Cornelly Utd, Garw, Llangeinor, Llangynwyd Rangers, Maesteg Park, Pencoed Ath and Porthcawl Town – while Betws were set to make it 10 before the national lockdown came in back in March.
What Pencoed are suggesting is teams meeting once on a league basis while a knockout cup competition would prolong the season a bit further.
Some clubs, however, are opposed to the idea with Maesteg Park preferring inter-club games for their squad.
The Pencoed move will certainly put the cat among the pigeons, and has come against a background of leagues from FAW Tier Two downwards unlikely to start before Christmas.
The FAW stance is given the strict protocols for elite-status Cymru Premiership games, clubs below it would struggle to meet requirements.
Add a wet winter into the mix, and below the top tier it would make it almost impossible to complete 30-match league programmes by April.
It’s resulted in some clubs calling for more transparency from the FAW – cancelling the season now would save them hefty training costs.
But things have got so bad at grassroots level that the FAW feels clubs should lobby their MP and AM in a bid to get restrictions lifted.
Special emphasis is being placed on the game’s lifeblood, the fans, who at present aren’t allowed to attend any matches in Wales.
In addition an FAW sub-group has been set up and will meet on a weekly basis in a bid to try and find ways of keeping some clubs afloat.
There’s even concern regarding the elite game in Wales because at the end of the 2020/21 season, the Cymru Premiership must complete the 22-game schedule ahead of the midwinter split.
A failure to do so would result in UEFA rejecting applications for season 2021/22 from Wales for both the Champions League and Europa League.
But with leagues below the top flight now unlikely to get underway this season, there would be no relegation from the Cymru Premiership.