Amateur football chief backs shutdown
President of the Perthshire Amateur Football Association Tom Latto is holding out hope that the season can be finished.
The entire amateur fixture card across the region was wiped out following Friday’s shutdown because of the coronavirus and matches have been suspended until further notice.
Perthshire amateurs involves two divisions and multiple cup competitions this season. Letham and St Johns sat joint top of the Division One table when the decision was made, while Letham Community and Alyth were level on points at the summit of DivisionTwo.
Latto, president of the Perthshire Amateur Football Association, highlighted the safety of all involved is paramount and said the decision to halt action was an essential move.
“As an amateur association I am sure that our members will be disappointed at this turn of events, however understand that at this time it is an essential move to protect all players, club officials, referees and the public from the spread of coronavirus,”he explained to the Perthshire Advertiser.
“Perthshire Amateurs have cancelled all fixtures with immediate effect.
“The suspension at present is until further notice and we can only hope that the current rate of increase of the virus can be contained to a level which will allow a return to playing amateur football.
“We have been fortunate in that our fixtures were not too badly disrupted during the worst of the winter weather.
“And, provided the suspension is not too lengthy, we may be able to complete our league and cup fixtures without curtailment even if this requires a few weeks extension to our season.”