It has been confirmed that the leagues and FA got together on 19th June but still no start date to offer us non league footy fans and also a lot of grey areas so, what do we know so far?.
The one definate thing that was announced is that non league football in general will not start without supporters so depending on what happens with covid 19 in the next few weeks with rumored second spikes a lot of which are allegedly in the north could delay the 'as soon as possible' start we are all hoping for.
The other decision we do know is that from step three(Northern Premier League) down to step seven (Heys step six) these leagues will start at the same time and a pre season will be permitted, though it is not yet specified how long before the opening day of the season that will be.
A source tells me that they are ideally looking at start date in September and many teams are already back in training, but other scenario's were also discussed at the meeting.
Ideally in August we would have a normal season but this is highly unlikely.
A September or October start would mean full priority given to the league season with the cancellation of any league or county cups, which makes sense.
If., god forbid we kick off in November or December the intention is to split the leagues regionally to four leagues of ten rather than two of twenty.
With regards the FA Cup and FA Vase the intention is to play these in full however with the FA 'contractually obliged' to start the 3rd Round on the first week of January but the throry is the later the season starts the more teams from step six upwards will be culled out of the competition.
To add insult to injury the FA also confirmed prize money dished out in the FA Vase will be reduced by 6% for this coming season.
Currently this is about all we know, yes frustrating we don't have a start date and when we do it will open up a new set of questions about masks ,safe distancing, outside bars and catering and so on but we will save that one for nearer the time!, lets just hope this second spike does not materialize and we can all crack on as soon as possible!
Rick
