Town explain reasoning behind their preference for campaign to be completed
RUNCORN Town believe the North West Counties season should be completed – as and when it’s safe to do so.
The club agreed that terminating the season and declaring it null and void was a viable option – but said they would prefer to preserve the results from this season and continue with the campaign once possible.
The FA’s Leagues Committee contacted all step 5 & 6 clubs last week to gather their views as to whether the 2020/21 season should be terminated as soon as possible and, if not, which of the alternative options set out in the survey should be adopted instead.
There are several factors to consider including the likelihood that clubs wouldn’t be able to play games until March at least as well as player and staff welfare, club finances and the unwillingness from The FA to extend the season beyond May 31st.
There were various options available, including:
Terminate the season and declare it null and void as happened last season.
Pause the season now and continue in August, effectively finishing off the 20/21 season between August 2021 and May 2022.
Complete the season however long it takes, delaying the start of the 21/22 season indefinitely.
Complete as much of the season as possible by 31st May and use points per game to determine promotion and relegation. This could only happen if a specified number of games had been completed - 66% or 75% were suggested but clubs were able to suggest other numbers.
Complete the season by May 31st and null and void if 100% of matches are not played.
A spokesman for Runcorn Town said: “We decided that the only viable options would be to terminate the season and declare it null and void and start again in the summer, or pause the season now and resume in August to hopefully finish the season.
“It is unlikely that games would be able to begin until March at the earliest, leaving at best 12 weeks to complete the season with no time for training or friendly matches beforehand.
“While a null and void option with a fresh start in the summer will no doubt appeal to a lot of teams, we reflected on the massive effort that went in to getting this season started and getting games played and we think it would be a shame for that hard work to account for nothing.
“The situation we faced throughout 2020 was unprecedented and the work put in by the players, management, fans and committee at all clubs to get games played against the odds was remarkable.
“Therefore our response to The FA was that our preference is to preserve the results from the 2020/21 season so far and continue the season.
“Whether this means specifically from August 2020 to May 2021 remains to be seen, but we are optimistic that this would be possible and it gives all teams a better chance of getting the season completed.
“Arguably this impacts the integrity of the competition where there is a large number of player movements, but at our level there is often a large turnover of players during any season.
“All clubs in the North West Counties League have played between 3 and 9 games and we believe that spread over nine months this shouldn’t impact teams negatively where teams have to play catch up as they would in most other seasons as a result of cup runs and postponed fixtures.
“The final decision will be taken by The FA and we are hoping that will be made soon to allow all clubs to make plans.”
It may be possible to arrange a tournament for teams in the spring to bridge the gap before the season continues in the summer.
If it is feasible to do so and if teams are willing and able to take part such a tournament would be organised by the North West Counties League, possibly in conjunction with other leagues in the North West.