Youth league season scrapped

The Kent Youth League have announced that all results for the season have been expunged.

A decision to make the 2019/20 season null and void comes in line with that of steps 3 to 7 of the non-league pyramid. The KYL started the season with 195 teams across 16 divisions, playing competitive under-13 to under-18s football.

Young players from the county’s top clubs are part of the KYL, including Ebbsfleet United, Maidstone United and Dover Athletic. White’s under18s topped their division with a 100% record. The league have decided there will be no promotion or relegation. A league statement said: “The Kent Youth League has unanimously agreed to follow the FA’s recommendation applied to the National League system and Woman’s pyramid.

“All league results and divisional league tables will be expunged and no winners and runners up will be determined. To avoid any doubt this will apply to every division in the League.”

All cup finals have also been cancelled but a special medal will be awarded to those teams and players who had made it that far.

“In these unprecedented times it must be said that this season for our league and all other leagues has been a real battle almost from the last weekend in September when the rain began and if I am not mistaken we had at least one game called off every weekend until the season was correctly bought to an end by the FA following the coronavirus outbreak.

“It is fair to say that we were always going to struggle to get the number of games outstanding played and we have certainly learnt a lot about division sizes with hopefully next season in mind.

“We have had to take a decision that none of us when we put our hands up to help run this fantastic league thought we would have to make.”

The decision “wasn’t taken lightly,” adds the statement, and that “we can never please everyone in anything that we do, but surviving the next few months is just too important for us all.”