LORDSWOOD

Whatever happens to the 2020/21 league season isn’t the main concern for Lordswood boss Neil Hunter after witnessing the effects of Covid-19 at close quarters. The football-mad boss has seen many of his family members suffer with the virus and one of those sadly lose their life. He’s only just come out of a period of isolation himself.

With a niece who works in an intensive care unit and a wife working in a supermarket, nobody needs to tell him the dangers of the virus and for that reason his weekend passion hasn’t seemed so important.

“I have seen it first hand,” said Hunter. “Unless you are around it, and it has affected you, I think there is a bit of flippancy around it, what you can’t see can’t hurt, but you haven’t got to have symptoms to pass it on and that is the worrying thing. “I can’t see how this league can start again for the foreseeable future.

“I know some teams played and trained (while the SCEFL and Isthmian League were on hold) but we refused to do it.

“We made a collective decision, none of us were prepared to take a chance on it, some of us were shielding people.

“We have four players and three board members who have all been down with Covid related issues in the last few weeks.

“We know everyone wants to play football, nobody misses it more than me, it is my getaway, but I haven’t given it a second thought. “As far as football is concerned and what they do with the league, that is out of my control, but I am not putting anyone’s life in any sort of danger over 90 minutes of football.”