A NEW WAVE IS OUR MAIN FEAR

COVID-19 changed our world and lest not forget the thousands of people who sadly lost their lives, including the many who gave unstinting service to the Non-League game.

Sadly, people are still dying but we hope to continue seeing those numbers dwindle until we find a way of treating this virus effectively or vaccinating against it.

Many have called for this crisis to become an opportunity for the National League System to become something which more actually reflects how Non-League football should look in 2020, and I believe there is merit in that.

After the debates and deliberations over the decisions to expunge the season or settle it on a points-per-game basis, we are now, at least, talking about when to start the 2020/21 campaign.

The decisions made by the leagues, in consultation with The FA and of course with each other, were difficult, purely because there wasn’t a good decision for everyone. It was about trying to do the best of a bad job but also trying to get some uniformity throughout the National League System and working together.

I sincerely felt for some clubs, including some in our own league.

Not so long back, many in the game were thinking we may not be able to start before the end of the year so, with the considerable help of the National League System team at the FA, scenarios were drawn up as to what the season would look like if it started at any time between August and December, and even January 2021.

Now there is more optimism around a possible September or October start and in those situations we would be able to accommodate a full league campaign – even if it meant going into May.