NOW WE CAN SEE THE LIGHT
STEP 5 and 6 Leagues have welcomed FA proposals for a return to football and can see some ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.
Since the 2019-20 campaign was cut short in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, leagues up and down the country have been in the dark over when football would be able to restart.
There are still no definitive dates, but the FA have put forward a number of possible scenarios. Hopes are high that September could be the starting point, possibly with 30 per cent capacities.
At an online meeting of Step 5 and 6 leagues on Friday afternoon, it was made clear that the National League System (Steps 1 to 7) will only restart when the Department of Media, Culture & Sport (DCMS) give approval and subject to any conditions they make. In addition, games cannot restart at Steps 1 to 7 without spectators and all will restart on the same date.
In the unlikely situation that leagues are able to kick-off in August, a normal season would ensue. A September or October start would enable full league seasons to be played, though league and county cups would have to make way.
If there’s a delay until November through to January, then half seasons (play each other once) or splitting divisions in half could come into play.
A worst-case scenario of a post-January start may mean leagues would not take place.
South West Peninsula League secretary Phil Hiscox said the meeting had left him with a feeling of ‘cautious optimism’.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” he told The NLP. “The FA are serious about restarting with fans in the ground and there’s an eye on the protection of the fixture calendar and clubs’ own welfare.
“It looks like we are going to get a season at the very least by the autumn and not have the previous nightmare scenario of not playing at all until Christmas.”
North West Counties League (NWCL) chairman Paul Lawler also felt the meeting had been worthwhile.
“It was good to see the planning has been put in place to see how things will open up.
“It would be almost impossible in the National League System to start behind closed doors,” he added. “Clubs can’t afford to do it.”
United Counties League chairman Alan Poulain said: “In my view, the FA have got their finger on the pulse even though they’re not really able to make any decisions at the moment.
Risk assessment
“They said that as soon as the government tell us we can go back to contact playing and we can have crowds in our grounds then things will move forward.
“As a league, we’re ready to go back to football whenever someone says we can push the button.”
The FA are still keen to run the FA Cup and Vase in full, but that may not be possible, especially in the Cup where there are broadcasting dates set in stone for when EFL sides enter the fray.
That could have financial implications for Non-League clubs, while prize money is being cut across the FA Cup, Trophy and Vase.
Lawler added: “The early Cup rounds can be quite lucrative and there are quite considerable cuts to FA funding as well. That’s going to hit Non-League hard.”
All clubs will have to carry out risk assessments and/or action plans to ensure they are Covid secure. Clubs were also informed that even if a league at a higher Step has a vacancy caused by a club folding or requesting voluntary relegation, promotion will not occur and that league will run short, though the FA will look at applications to enter the pyramid to fill a vacancy, potentially Bury AFC and FC Isle of Man in the NWCL.