‘It’s looking more and more unlikely that the season will finish’
PROMOTION may remain the overriding goal for Plymouth Parkway and Tavistock this season, but with the spread of a new strain of Covid sweeping the nation, the implementation of tougher restrictions and a third lockdown at some point almost inevitable, it seems impossible that the 2020-21 Western League season will reach a conclusion.
That is a thought shared by both Parkway boss Lee Hobbs and his Tavistock counterpart, Stuart Henderson, who were both denied the chance of promotion in 2019/20 when the virus first hit.
Tavi were top of the table with Parkway tucked in behind them in second, when the league was suspended in March as the nation entered lockdown. And the decision to null and void the campaign only a few months later denied both clubs the chance of promotion to the Southern League.
Both are ambitious clubs and this season, there is a role reversal at the top with Parkway currently top and Tavistock second, but they have played only 13 and 11 of their 40 league games respectively. All clubs are well behind on their fixtures and with both still in the FA Vase, further disruption to the league campaign is inevitable. So the big question is: What happens if the league do decide to end the season now?
There is already talk of cancelling this season’s FA Vase, something the FA are going to review, despite making the fourth round draw on Monday.
“I’d be gutted but if it means that you can play league games, then that’s at least something,” Hobbs said. “But you can’t have teams not playing and let other teams go through and go through – it’s just not right.
“Maybe voiding it is the best thing to do and let everyone focus on their league campaigns because that’s all we will be left with then.
“It’s getting to a stage where there are clubs in our league that are in Tier Two and were in Tier Three, but they are refusing to play. It’s looking more and more unlikely that the season will finish, so end it now and let the teams go up in the positions that they are in.”
Hobbs’ sentiments are echoed by Henderson, who added: “You can’t have teams having to drop out of the competition (Vase) and the rest carry on otherwise the one that wins it will be the last one standing, so it is a bit of a joke.
“There’s nothing we can do and it is frustrating for everyone. We will play games as and when we can, but it’s in the back of everyone’s mind and I can’t see us finishing the league, or getting anywhere near to 30 games.”
Thirty games would mark the three-quarter stage for the Western League in which they have previously said that league placings would then be decided on points-per game, if they were unable to play the final ten. But even reaching that point looks increasingly unlikely.
The Football Association plan to restructure the non-League system in the summer, regardless of whether there is a conclusion to this campaign. In order for that to happen, they will need final league placings for the 2020/21 season, despite so few games played, so the question then is whether points-per-game is a fair way to decide things.
“Is there an integrity to that when we have only played 13 games?” Parkway boss Hobbs said.
“We have been told that the FA’s restructuring process will happen no matter what, whether it’s points-pergame, league winners or what – it’s happening.
“It might have to go down to where everyone is now. We have over three quarters of the league in Tier Two and three that are in Tier Three that are now refusing to play. It’s getting harder and harder.
“We can’t carry on like this. It’s a shambles at the minute and so hard.”
Henderson added: “We can’t carry on like this, I think they will null and void it because we have so many games to play.
“I would rather we just have a four-week lockdown, where everyone is really, really strict and then see where we are then, rather than going for a few weeks and stopping, going for a few weeks and stopping, going for a few weeks and stopping.
“It’s just a nightmare and you don’t know where you are with it from one week to the next.”