The Central Midlands League is planning to complete their 2020/21 season.
The CML say they “will do everything possibly to organise” from April until the end of June, but admit whether spectators will be able to attend Premier Division is unclear.
League chairman and secretary Paul Vallis said in a statement: “Following on from the decisions made by the FA and associated committees to declare Steps 3-6 of the NLS pyramid ‘null and void’, I wish to make clear the stance of the Central Midlands Football League.
“First of all, it is the function and purpose of the CMFL to encourage and facilitate the playing of football within the League for all member clubs. After three months of inactivity, and much of the past twelve months of football lost to Covid, the CMFL is keen that competitive football should resume in some form as quickly as possible. I personally find it strange that so many Leagues seem very keen to abandon football for another five months!
“To that end, the CMFL will be exploring all options and ideas on completing the season or bringing in alternative competitions for all clubs. I will be writing to all member clubs to inform them of the proposed restart date, and once again clubs will be able to start playing football for the remainder of season 20/21.
“Late this afternoon, the FA changed their minds from last week’s announcement and decided that the Premier Division North and South will have the opportunity of playing on until June 30th. This clearly affects our thinking regarding the Premier Divisions as this option was not available until teatime today! I appreciate that the matter of spectators is an important one, and this has yet to be addressed by the FA. The FA themselves however regard “grassroots” football differently to the NLS pyramid and where this was an advantage to the CMFL clubs in previous Lockdown situations for spectators, the same could be true this time as well.
“As for Division One, this was not affected by the 31st May restriction so could play until the end of June anyway. In theory completing these smaller divisions is a very realistic option.
“How this all affects promotion and relegation is subject to the whims of the National FA, but for now it should be taken that the CMFL will do everything possible to organise matches to give competitive football to its member clubs, and I look forward to the battles resuming on the pitch in early April.
“Further discussions with clubs will follow, as I do appreciate there may be issues arising. However, I hope to bring you some further details about proposed restart dates as quickly as possible.”