Petition - Completion of Leagues at Non League Level

[Big J R]

I also fear the next season may well be a non-starter.

[Rhodes]

I see that the Northern Counties East Football League are being very generous to their Club's, I wonder whether the SSML will follow suit in due course:

[petethegreek]

1 hour ago, Rhodes said:

I see that the Northern Counties East Football League are being very generous to their Club's, I wonder whether the SSML will follow suit in due course:

You will find a lot of Competitions doing the same or similar.

I sat in on an FA webinar yesterday evening which discussed the financial impact on Clubs and Leagues that the coronavirus is having and what help and support is out there.

My Competition will be discussing a range of financial measures for our Clubs to help ease the financial burden going forward.

[Rhodes]

5 hours ago, petethegreek said:

My Competition will be discussing a range of financial measures for our Clubs to help ease the financial burden going forward.

I didn't think you were associated with the KOPA League any longer in an official capacity

[petethegreek]

2 hours ago, Rhodes said:

I didn't think you were associated with the KOPA League any longer in an official capacity

I'm no longer with the KOPA League so you are correct.

[Rhodes]

Here we go folks, this should set the cat amongst the pigeons, some Club's have got high powered lawyers involved to question the decision to unceremoniously terminate the 2019/20 season and expunge all records as ratified by the FA Council last Thursday. Kerry Underwood is Vice Chairman at Hemel Hempstead FC, and a former Judge and Solicitor, who is senior partner at Underwood's Solicitors based in Hemel Hempstead, Mr Underwood feels that there could be a fair chance to over turn the decision in the Law Courts particularly where Steps 3-7 Clubs were not consulted on the process whatsoever whereas Steps 1-2 Club's were, a Court of Law would take a dim view of that and treating Leagues differently for seemingly financial reasons:  

[Savagebee]

10 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Here we go folks, this should set the cat amongst the pigeons, some Club's have got high powered lawyers involved to question the decision to unceremoniously terminate the 2019/20 season and expunge all records as ratified by the FA Council last Thursday. Kerry Underwood is Vice Chairman at Hemel Hempstead FC, and a former Judge and Solicitor, who is senior partner at Underwood's Solicitors based in Hemel Hempstead, Mr Underwood feels that there could be a fair chance to over turn the decision in the Law Courts particularly where Steps 3-7 Clubs were not consulted on the process whatsoever whereas Steps 1-2 Club's were, a Court of Law would take a dim view of that and treating Leagues differently for seemingly financial reasons:  

Interesting  but as I've said before it's a done deal and nothing will change. I can understand clubs and people (Me being one of them) being upset by the decision but the fat lady sang weeks ago I'm afraid. 

[Rhodes]

22 hours ago, Savagebee said:

 it's a done deal and nothing will change

Savagebee - I'm not so sure you're right. Mr Underwood rightly pointed out that the Law Courts are always very reluctant to interfere with sport which would be all the more the case this time given the circumstances and cause of the problem, however a terrible injustice has still been done hasn't it and that's what the Courts are there for, otherwise what's the point of having them. I was reading up on the legal test known as 'Wednesbury Unreasonableness' (see the link below), which Mr Underwood refers to, and I think that he has a good case, basically it's 'behaviour on the part of a Public Authority that is particularly perverse or absurd', which sums up to a tee the FA's bizarre decision to terminate the 2019/20 season for Steps 3-7 of the National League System and Tiers 3 to 7 of the Women’s Football Pyramid and to expunge all records which the FA Council happily ratified last week. 'Wednesbury Unreasonableness' also provides that a decision may be challenged as unreasonable if 'the conclusion reached was so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could ever come to it or if the decision-maker took into account irrelevant matters or failed to take into account relevant matters', which again sums up the FA's decision to a tee doesn't it:

https://www.reference.com/world-view/wednesbury-unreasonableness-test-f9d604347ec29a98

Edited April 18, 2020 by Rhodes

[Savagebee]

1 hour ago, Rhodes said:

Savagebee - I'm not so sure you're right. Mr Underwood rightly pointed out that the Law Courts are always very reluctant to interfere with sport which would be all the more the case this time given the circumstances and cause of the problem, however a terrible injustice has still been done hasn't it and that's what the Courts are there for, otherwise what's the point of having them. I was reading up on the legal test known as 'Wednesbury Unreasonableness' (see the link below), which Mr Underwood refers to, and I think that he has a good case, basically it's 'behaviour on the part of a Public Authority that is particularly perverse or absurd', which sums up to a tee the FA's bizarre decision to terminate the 2019/20 season for Steps 3-7 of the National League System and Tiers 3 to 7 of the Women’s Football Pyramid and to expunge all records which the FA Council happily ratified last week. 'Wednesbury Unreasonableness' also provides that a decision may be challenged as unreasonable if 'the conclusion reached was so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could ever come to it or if the decision-maker took into account irrelevant matters or failed to take into account relevant matters', which again sums up the FA's decision to a tee doesn't it:

https://www.reference.com/world-view/wednesbury-unreasonableness-test-f9d604347ec29a98

Well everyone to there own I guess.

It's a waste of time and effort in my opinion.

Right now there's bigger ? to fry in my opinion.

[Rhodes]

I see that high powered Lawyers Walker Morris, based in Leeds, have written to the Northern Premier Football League on behalf of their client South Shields Football Club requesting answers regarding the process the League took in reaching their 'decision of this magnitude' to null and void the 2019/20 campaign without even consulting its member Clubs, the lawyers certainly don't pull their punches in the letter and ask some burning questions:

Edited April 19, 2020 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Here we go folks, the 2019/20 National League campaign has been unceremoniously abandoned after initially being suspended on 16 March following the Coronavirus outbreak:

https://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/latest-news/30153/coronavirus-claims-national-league-season-even-before-club-poll-shuts/?utm_medium=onesignal&utm_source=push_notifications&utm_campaign=web_push

[Rhodes]

Notts County have issued a hard hitting statement following yesterday's announcement that the National League campaign had been unceremoniously abandoned after initially being suspended on 16 March following the Coronavirus outbreak, the oldest professional football Club in the World are clearly not happy and rightly so:

Our board of directors have issued the following statement after the National League today announced that the majority of its clubs have voted to cancel the remaining matches of the 2019-20 season, with a further vote to follow on how the outcomes of the campaign should be decided.

We would like to place on record our disappointment that the 2019-20 Vanarama National League season has been brought to a premature end.

While we appreciate the views of other clubs and respect the overall outcome of this vote as a representation of opinion across the three divisions, our stance has always been that the National League should operate in tandem with the EFL due to the intrinsic link between the two leagues.

We were therefore opposed to this vote being imposed – particularly as there was no clear indication of what the next steps would be in terms of deciding the conclusion of the season, including end-of-season play-offs and matters concerning promotion and relegation.

We have written to the National League on a number of occasions over the past month with detailed, constructive and well-considered options for how we believe the league can be concluded, thus giving clubs involved at both ends of the table a fair opportunity to compete for what they deserve.

One of such proposals would lead to clubs in less promising or precarious positions being able to conclude their season once and for all, leaving the others to resolve matters in the spirit of the competition over a short time period.

We thank the National League for allowing us to submit our thoughts and hope they are duly considered by the board and its executive to enable them to provide a fair way of deciding these huge outcomes in the next stage of voting.

To be clear, while all remaining scheduled league matches have been cancelled, we are not ruling out a return to action in some form between now and the formal conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign. We will therefore continue to ask our players to train remotely and, as a club, we’ll make sure we’re ready to resume our push for promotion if we’re given the opportunity we feel we and others deserve.

We’d also like to advise our supporters that no decision has yet been taken by the FA on how this season’s Trophy campaign will be concluded. We’re mindful that hundreds of our fans purchased tickets for the first leg of our semi-final away to Harrogate Town and appreciate their patience. As soon as we have an update on what’s planned for the competition, we’ll circulate it.

In the meantime we look forward to hearing from the National League with regards to what the next round of voting will entail, with the continued hope that our fight for an immediate return to the EFL isn’t over.

Stay home, stay safe and thank you for your amazing continued support.

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2020/april/board-statement-on-cancellation-of-fixtures-220420/

[Rhodes]

National League leaders Barrow have issued a statement following yesterday's announcement that the National League campaign had been unceremoniously abandoned after initially being suspended on 16 March following the Coronavirus outbreak. You can feel the pain in every word their boss Ian Evatt writes and it certainly would be 'criminal' if the Cumbria based Club aren't promoted back to the Football League, which they left in 1971/72, 'be it via a points per game system or  just results as they stand':

[Rhodes]

Sadly Rhyl Football Club, founded in 1878 and Champions League contestants in 2004/05 and 2009/10, have folded, the Coronavirus has a lot to answer for:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52376408

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyl_F.C.

[Savagebee]

8 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Sadly Rhyl Football Club, founded in 1878 and Champions League contestants in 2004/05 and 2009/10, have folded, the Coronavirus has a lot to answer for:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52376408

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyl_F.C.

[Rhodes]

34 minutes ago, Savagebee said:

Savagebee - Yes, I have always had a soft spot for Rhyl, possibly because my favourite music group, The Alarm, come from there and, like I said, they reached the Champions League in 2004/05 and 2009/10 by winning the Welsh Premier League but unsurprisingly fell at the first qualifying hurdle to Skonto FC from Latvia and Partizan Belgrade. They also qualified in 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 for the UEFA Cup but again lost in the early qualifying stages, Rhyl played at their Belle View ground since 1892 so it's very sad to see the Club go under, surely they could have been saved by someone, a local businessman maybe:

[Savagebee]

1 hour ago, Rhodes said:

Savagebee - Yes, I have always had a soft spot for Rhyl, possibly because my favourite music group, The Alarm, come from there and, like I said, they reached the Champions League in 2004/05 and 2009/10 by winning the Welsh Premier League but unsurprisingly fell at the first qualifying hurdle to Skonto FC from Latvia and Partizan Belgrade. They also qualified in 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 for the UEFA Cup but again lost in the early qualifying stages, Rhyl played at their Belle View ground since 1892 so it's very sad to see the Club go under, surely they could have been saved by someone, a local businessman maybe:

I must admit that I do like to watch the Welsh league football on Ch S4C. 

[Rhodes]

A statement and interesting BBC York radio interview from York City Sporting Director Dave Penny who also feels the famous Club have been hard done by. It was also their last season at Bootham Crescent, a ground they have been playing at since 1932 which saw one of the most famous FA Cup shocks in January 1985 when York City beat Arsenal 1-0 in a Fourth Round tie played on an icy surface which had been cleared of snow shortly beforehand:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08b9v97

[Rhodes]

Talking of Notts County earlier, I see they topped the highest average league attendance statistics this season of all Non League Club's, there are two Club's outside of the National League in the top thirty listing: 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

They are still debating away on another Forum and discussing Isthmian League Chairman Nick Robinson's recent interview on the D&K Reposs Non League Show/Podcast which was an interesting listen. Mr Robinson came across as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth however it has been suggested that he is stretching the rules to fit the narrative he set himself. The previous rules about records being expunged if a Club cannot finish a season only related to Club's folding and resigning from a League and nothing to do with campaign's ending under extraordinary circumstances such as now:

https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forums/index.php?threads/season-2019-20-over.1170/page-35

Interesting interview. Curious about a couple of things he said.
If clubs do not finish their season for whatever reason their record is expunged.
In this case they all did not finish their season so they are all expunged. That is the rule.

OK. Fair enough but if they had gone on the PPG route they also would not have finished their season.

So the PPG would be on the basis of results that are expunged. I dont understand that.

 

Also he referred late on in the interview to clubs voting on constitution of the league.

I did not think that happened any more?