National will start season in October

THE North East’s National League clubs are set to return to competitive action on the first Saturday of October.

The league confirmed their plans for commencing the 2020/21 season in a memo sent to clubs on Monday evening – although all plans are subject to approval by the Football Association and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The region’s National League North quartet – Blyth Spartans, Darlington, Gateshead and Spennymoor Town – will all get their league fixtures under way in the week after they compete in the FA Cup second qualifying round on Saturday, October 3.

That same day will see National League side Hartlepool United play their first league fixture of the season and the campaign is set to conclude on the later date of Saturday, May 29, 2021, with play-off fixtures across all of their divisions taking place during June 2021.

The league have also confirmed they expect all competitive fixtures will take place with spectators in attendance – but clubs have been warned that it will be with a “significantly reduced stadium capacity to meet social distance guidelines”.

The news comes just days after the Northern League confirmed they plan to start their season on Saturday, September 5.

However, Northern Premier League clubs Dunston UTS, Marske United, Morpeth Town and South Shields will have to wait until Saturday, September 19, to play their first fixtures of the new campaign.