Cash Flow Was Behind Tough Call To Play On!

Northern Premier League chairman Mark Harris cited financial pressures on clubs as one of the reasons the league felt it right to play on for as long as possible – and urged football to pull together in the face of an unprecedented situation.

- Matt Badcock

The NPL were in line with the National League’s view to continue playing games over the weekend, unless clubs made representations they had players showing Covid-19 symptoms and were in self-isolation.

Of their 11 scheduled Step 3 games, only four went ahead – although two of the postponements were because of waterlogged pitches – while the majority of their two Step 4 divisions also played.

A league meeting will be held tomorrow to determine the way forward but Harris felt the NPL following the government’s advice of business as usual was the best course of action ahead of the weekend.

“Our primary responsibility is to our clubs,” Harris told The NLP on Friday evening.

“We are very concerned, particularly in a year where we’ve lost a lot of fixtures to the weather, our clubs are under massive financial pressure.

“Our first job is to try and complete as much of the season as we can.

“In the round, it’s business as usual for as long as possible. We’ve taken the decision we will go ahead this weekend and we will review on Monday where we go after that.