Tier system changes affect Southern and Hellenic programmes
» THE suspension of the Southern League Division One South season is set to continue until at least Saturday, January 9.
Clubs will be given at least 10 days’ notice of the recommencement of the season.
The situation has been complicated further by the introduction of tier 4 areas, with football at steps 3-6 of the National League system not permitted in those areas, including all training and fixtures.
This also applies to tiers 3-7 of the Women’s Football Pyramid, the regional NLS feeder leagues, the Barclays FA WSL Academy League, FA Girls Regional Talent Clubs [unless under elite status] and indoor and outdoor adult grassroots football.
The Vitality Women’s FA Cup is also classified as ‘non-elite’ at this stage in the competition.
In the Hellenic League, Bishop’s Cleeve and Tuffley Rovers had their games called off on Saturday as their scheduled opponents, Windsor and Binfield, were in tier 3 but have now been moved into new tier 4 areas.
Brimscombe & Thrupp’s FA Vase game with Bridgwater Town fell victim to the bad weather and has been rearranged for Sunday (December 27), with the winners earning a home game with Buckland Athletic or Tavistock in the last 32.
Weather and Covid permitting, on Monday Easington Sports v Ardley United, Fairford Town v Longlevens, Lydney v Tuffley Rovers, Royal Wootton Basset v Shrivenham and Westfields v Bishops Cleeve will go ahead in the Premier Division, while matches scheduled at Flackwell Heath, Holmer Green and Reading City are off.
On January 2, the schedule has been revised with Premier Division matches between Ardley United v Fairford Town, Bishop’s Cleeve v Brimscombe & Thrupp. Longlevens v Westfields, Lydney Town v Shrivenham and Tuffley Rovers v Royal Wootton Bassett set to go ahead.
All scheduled Division One West matches will be played.
Then on Tuesday January 5, the following matches will go ahead: Bishops Cleeve v Tuffley Rovers, Easington Sports v Brimscombe & Thrupp and Lydney Town v Longlevens. Binfield v Virginia Water and Fairford Town v Holmer Green are postponed.
In Division One West, the three matches scheduled – Hereford Pegasus v Cheltenham Saracens, Moreton Rangers v Clanfield 85 and Shortwood United v Newent Town – will be played. All Division Two matches will be postponed, with a planned restart of Saturday January 9.
The league say a review of all January fixtures will take place in due course and the situation will be periodically reviewed moving forward.
The Gloucestershire County League continues to be suspended and the next matches are scheduled for January 2, but the league has some clubs in the tier 3 South Gloucestershire area.