Vaccineoffers WOSLhope
West of Scotland League chairman Dave McKenna believes the Covid-19 vaccine rollout has offered the setup a glimmer of hope they can return to action this season.
The lower leagues were dealt a fresh blow last week when the Scottish Football Association announced the current suspension would be extended until at least March 1.
But as coronavirus cases begin to drop again and the vaccine rollout gathers pace across the country, McKenna is hopeful they will see football return soon and they can complete the season in some form.
The West of Scotland Football League today announced a Special General Meeting for March 1, raising concerns a decision on calling the campaign may be afoot, but McKenna insisted this is not the case.
He said :“The SGM is to elect the new board for the West of Scotland League.
“The league has been governed by the Lowland League board, but the arrangement with the SFA has always been that by March the setup would be handed over to a new board.
“It’s been run by the Interim Management Group and this will be a formal handover to the WOSL board that was always on the cards.
“There’s nothing beyond that [in terms of decisions on the season].
“We won’t be looking into anything else until early March at the earliest.
“Depending on what happens around then, we can look to see what can be done.
“In an ideal world, we’d like to get all the fixtures played but that would be quite a big ask.
“The one thing I would say is that the general picture is looking a bit brighter, with the general case numbers and the vaccine rollout.
“It seems that is starting to help, so there is maybe a wee glimmer of hope.”
Should the lower league be given the green light to return in March, fixtures for the first four games in the Premier Division and the three WoSFL conferences have been drawn up.
The WoSFL have stated they will call the season on a points per game basis if more than 50 per cent of games are played. McKenna has stressed that doesn’t mean they will just call a halt as soon as they pass that threshold.
But he concedes if there are further delays or stoppages, the final whistle will blow on a tumultuous season.
He added:“We’ve mentioned that if we get to over 50 per cent of games played we would look to call the season on a points per game basis, but that doesn’t mean as soon as we get to 50 per cent we just stop.
“Some people have misread that. “What it is, is that if we get past that point we can call it on a points per game basis at some stage.
“I really don’t think it would be practical or pragmatic to start again and then have to stop again. That would probably be a step too far.”