Rogers philosophical as clubs are asked to decide
TIVERTON Town joint-manager Martyn Rogers says if not playing football saves ‘ even one or two lives’ then not playing football is the right thing to do.
The Southern League has extended the suspension of the 2020-21 season until March 6 – and is recommending that the campaign should be scrapped entirely.
So, while they wait for further direction about a possible poll of club’s opinions, Tiverton and Truro City in Premier Division South, and Division One South sides Barnstaple Town, Bideford and Willand Rovers, remain inactive, with neither side having played a game in the league since the end of October.
Rogers says some things are much more important than football, despite the frustrations of the current situation, and his hope is that the season can continue and be completed.
Tiverton were in the promotion race last season when all results were expunged. They are second behind Poole Town in the suspended table, so to be denied a chance of National League South football again because of coronavirus would be so disappointing.
A statement issued by the league, released last week, says clubs will shortly be asked by the Football Association for their views on the season as a whole – and it adds that the view of the Southern League board is that the season should end and be declared null and void.
Rogers said there have been no discussions yet at Tiverton on how the club would vote if asked to do so.
He said: “I am all for giving it every chance to finish the season. I think last season, we curtailed it a bit quick but, this year, it is probably different circumstances.
“I think it is for the powers that be to decide. I don’t think at this moment in time it should be down to the clubs.
“It is whether or not you are looking for the season to finish when it should finish, which is normally the first week in May – that has been extended, I know, until the end of May.
“But if you turned around and said this season we are going to finish it at the end of September, that might give you the opportunity.”
For two seasons to pass by without promotions or relegations would be such a shame – but people are dying because of this virus and that should not be forgotten.
Rogers said: “Because this is unprecedented it is very, very difficult to find a proper answer. At the end of the day, what I feel is the health of everybody has got to come first.
“So regardless of what you think as far as football goes, football is irrelevant to what should be decided. If shutting down the leagues is going to help save even one or two lives then that’s what we have got to do.”
Beneath the Southern League, all other football is also suspended.
If the Southern League is stopped and null and voided again, the rest of non-league football is likely to follow.
Phil Hiscox, secretary of the Peninsula League, said: “In reality all we can do is postpone masses of league games that we now know cannot be played in lockdown.
“There is no room to rearrange them in the normal way, and only higher powers can dictate a way forward.
“Community-focused clubs are at their lowest ebb, the survival of them to live to fight another day, to be there for the communities after the pandemic, is the biggest fight the football authorities have on their hands. That’s far more important than finding a way to push through a mathematical formula to conclude the season.”
Rogers said: “I am very much behind what the scientists say. They know better than anybody.
“As far as I am concerned, whatever they decide, then we just have to follow it.”