Page 3 - Deal Round Up My/June/July 2020

These Are Hard Times Indeed

Well the year 2020 will certainly be remembered for the Corona Virus which has left its mark and I hope you have all come
through it unscathed and safe and well. An epidemic like that with the amount of people that have lost their lives because of
it puts everything into perspective and let’s hope we never see anything like it again.
From a football point of view, as with every other sport, it has reeked havoc from the very top of the sport right down to
the lowest level of the ‘grass roots’ game. When the FA made the inevitable decision on April 9th to declare all football
from Steps 3 to Step 6 null and void and left the leagues below Step 6 to make their own minds up; they followed suit soon
after, it really was no surprise. However the Government have now given the go ahead for the Premiership to complete their
season, albeit behind closed doors, with the English Football League and National Leagues following suit .
There is obviously big money battles at stake here with Champions League places, big cup finals and promotion and relegation
issues to resolve. How the leagues below the Premiership do that is becoming clearer with the English Football League and
National League clubs having voted on an outcome.
As I speak from a ‘grass roots’ football point of view, where ordinary lads play the game for the love of it, I raised the
following question with the Kent County League, the Kent Football Association and then the F.A., that if the season has
been declared null and void and the results and league tables expunged, in other words the season did not take place, is the
clubs/players disciplinary record expunged as well because a club/player could find themselves suspended at the start of
next season, under the totting up procedure, for an offence/offences that occurred during a season that did not exist. The
answer I got from the Kent FA was that it won’t be expunged and that it was a directive from the FA, (bit of fence sitting
perhaps). I await their response to my question. I also suggested that the revenue collected through fines (which will be
a considerable amount) could be placed in a welfare fund. The message must have been received as the County FAs and
Leagues are offering free registrations and kit vouchers to help.
Thank you for reading.
Bob Chivington, Editor, 07854529118

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