The Board of Directors have been working over the past 10 days since the announcement on the 26th March about the termination of our Southern League Premier South season by the FA because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The club have been in discussions with other clubs at the level in a similar situation to us to discuss next steps.
On Friday 3rd April, the law firm of Walker Morris (retained by 3 individual clubs on behalf of the wider 151 clubs) wrote to the FA on behalf of the clubs to oppose the decision to make the season at Step’s 3 to 7 null & void with immediate effect. Last week over 100 clubs co-signed a similar letter including Chesham United and 4 MPs have also voiced concerns to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
The purpose of this letter is to raise a number of serious concerns about the process and procedure leading up to the decision announced by The FA on 26 March to bring the 2019-20 season to an end for these clubs, with all results being expunged. Our primary concerns include the lack of consultation and communication with the affected clubs and certain leagues, especially at Steps 5 and below and in the women’s and disability game, the timing of the decision, and the decision to expunge the results of the season rather than, for example, to wait until such time as football can be safely resumed, or award a final finishing position based on the games already played. This letter represents a summary position from those Clubs, highlighting the key areas of concern and questions that they have not yet been able to obtain answers to in the very short period of time since the FA’s announcement.
The new letter can be found in full here: tinyurl.com/rxftq5o
This statement is a joint letter to the Football Association from clubs in steps three to seven of the non-league, as well as from clubs across the respective women’s leagues. The supporting clubs are listed as signatories at the end of the statement on the attached link behalf of their respective chairpersons or official club representatives.
