FRIENDLY FIRE BUT WHEN CAN THE FANS RETURN?
NON-LEAGUE football restarted yesterday as pre-season friendlies were played behind closed doors.
The FA’s guidelines for the return of football moved into the second phase with competitive matches now able to begin.
The Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport is yet to announce when spectators may be able to attend sporting events – and there was a setback on Friday when Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled the pilots of crowds at venues until at least August 15 after a spike in coronavirus cases.
The PM had said earlier in July that spectators could be able to return to stadiums from October.
The National League told member clubs on Monday to prepare for an October 3 start with Step 2 teams kicking off that day in the FA Cup second round qualifying.
The NLP understands the league are set to hold an online meeting with clubs on Thursday to discuss the return to football. Steps 1 and 2 are deemed ‘elite sport’ and therefore have to adhere to a phased training regime but will not have to test players and staff.
Rethink
The FA had initially proposed for the top two tiers to start no earlier than Saturday, September 5 and the change in date has forced clubs to rethink their pre-season plans, particularly concerning fixtures.
AFC Telford United have cancelled the matches they had arranged for August and disappointed chairman Andy Pryce said: “The news was out of the blue. It was a total shock. It was a decision that has not had any input from clubs at this level.
“From day one there has been a lack of communication with clubs at this level and the National League. It’s great it’s back and we have a date, don’t get me wrong, but we were hoping for it to be sooner rather than later. I do feel the league have taken the very easy option.”
Tring Athletic, of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, have cancelled their pre-season programme in fear of failing to adhere to FA guidelines which may invalidate their public liability insurance in the event of an incident at the club.
At Hungerford Town, they’ll be missing out on revenue-boosting crowds from fixtures against Gloucester City and Aldershot Town.
They had been planning to return to training two nights a week in August but will now either do one session or play a match per-week with contract start dates delayed.
The National League South club have been proactive in preparing for the restart by setting up a deal with a ticketing company and will insist all match tickets are pre-paid.
This will allow them to easily hold data for everyone coming into the ground to support NHS test and trace efforts.
“We’ve decided to do that because we’ve had no leadership from the National League, not a thing,” chairman Patrick Chambers told
The NLP. “We’ve also done a deal with a company to order drinks through an app and pick them up at a collection point.
Prepare
“We’ve done everything we can to prepare for the crowd but we now need to know is it going to be 30 per cent of capacity or is it going to be 30 per cent of your average crowd? If it is the second one we won’t be able to afford to put a game on.
“All the friendlies are behind closed doors but you’ve got to pay the groundsman, the officials, you’ve still got to do things.
“It’s a bit of a nightmare. On one hand, thank God we’ve got a date so we can sign players, because now you can put a start date on it. At least that uncertainty has gone.”
Step 2 is currently a club short meaning either National League North or South may have two fixtures fewer than usual. The restructuring of Non-League, which had been scheduled for 202021 and has now been pushed back a year, would have seen 24 teams in both North and South divisions.
At Eastleigh, chief executive Kenny Amor is waiting on more information on crowds before making financial decisions.
“The bit of information we need now more than anything is how many people we will be allowed in the ground so we can sell season tickets,” he said. “We’ve delayed that in order to make sure we’re not selling season tickets to games people can’t come to.
“We just need some clarity on it and then we can start planning accordingly.”
Clubs are required to publish an Action Plan to advise players or members on what measures are in place and
how they should act, plus a risk assessment. Each club must also appoint a Covid-19 Officer to make sure the necessary level of risk mitigations are in place and guidance is being followed.
September 19 is the proposed start date for Steps 3 and 4 while 5 and 6 intend to start from September 5. Should they go ahead, it would mean National League clubs would have to play friendlies either inhouse or against teams in their own league.
Confusion
There has been some confusion over whether supporters can attend friendlies played by clubs at Step 7, who are outside of the National League System.
It is against the law for gatherings of more than 30 people to take place meaning, at a match, once players, staff and officials have been included, it is likely the limit will have been reached.
“Some of our clubs at Steps 3 and 4 may be going and playing games down at
Step 6 or even below,” said Northern Premier League chairman Mark Harris. “Steps 6 and 7 are probably operating to grassroots guidance which is based on recreational sport where spectators are allowed, but those spectators are supposed to be parents. This is where the grey areas have been occurring.
“You can’t have spectators in a ground because the 30 allocation would undoubtedly apply to players and officials and things like that. What we, as the Northern Premier League, are saying to clubs is we are certainly not going to be stomping around clubs monitoring people going into pre-season friendlies.
“Pre-season friendlies are all sanctioned by the County FAs anyway and all that we can do as leagues is make the position clear to our clubs.
“What we are all waiting for is government to confirm whether we can return to competitive football in front of paying fans, how many or what will the basis be of that and under what conditions.”