Let’s prevent the pile-ups

I HAVE some sympathy with Paul Doswell and his concerns about the packed schedule so early in the season (NLP, September 9).

Representing one of the highestprofile part-time teams in England, his views are worth listening to. However, I wonder if other teams, perhaps with longer memories or without access to an artificial playing surface, feel differently.

Last season, after the worst winter for some time, caused a raft of postponements in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League.

These games were shoehorned into the schedule at the end of the season, and saw situations where teams played three times a week, seven times in a fortnight and, on one occasion, consecutive days in order to make up fixtures before the mandated last day of the season.

The advantages of a busy period at the start of the season are that the weather is generally better for football, and presuming they have done their pre-season training properly, they players should be fit enough to cope.

In all likelihood there is a middle ground to be found, that avoids pile-ups and allows for players to get proper recovery time between matches. However, it makes sense to do whatever is possible to avoid the end-of-season congestion that has such a profound effect on so many. ED TAYLOR Bingham, Notts