Rhodes

Big J R - Whilst you're there what did you make of Leatherhead supremo Nikki Bull's comments on the Surrey FA Senior Cup and the situation in general, I don't think the Tanners getting to a possible final with Dorking Wanderers was a done deal do you with a tricky Semi Final at Chipstead or Whyteleafe, I believe Dorking would have taken care of Guildford City, Banstead Athletic or Frimley Green especially drawn at home: Nikki Bull believes the Surrey FA’s decision to cancel the county cup competitions rather than postpone them “just goes to show how serious this whole situation is”. Speaking after the country was forced into lockdown on Monday evening because of the Covid-19 crisis, the Leatherhead boss was obviously disappointed that the prospect of a possible final with Dorking Wanderers was shelved but he admitted that football is the last thing on his mind. “You could look at it on a few levels,” said Bull, “they could have had it in pre-season and the Surrey FA is there to generate money so it (with a Mole Valley final) would have generated a lot from it. I’m not being blasé about it and we could have been on the end of a wrong result in the semi-final (against Chipstead or Whyteleafe) but we targeted the final. But I think the right decisions were made because we are in an unprecedented situation and nobody really knows what we are dealing with. All I can say is, football is minor to what is happening, a lot of clubs and businesses aren’t going to recover from this".

Don't panic folks, I've now found Alex Cunningham's letter to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport:

I see that Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler also thinks that this season’s Non-League records and statistics shouldn’t be expunged, I hadn't realised Tyler was 74 years old and that he was a former striker with Corinthian Casuals. I wonder what the legendary commentators from yesteryear would have made of all this, for example, Kenneth 'They Think It's All Over' Wolstenholme, David '1-0' Coleman, Brian 'It's Up For Grabs Now' Moore, Hugh Johns, Bryan Butler and Peter Jones, they will surely all be turning in their graves: https://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/latest-news/national-league-step-one/woking/29898/coronavirus-battle-martin-tyler-says-records-should-be-kept-for-history/?utm_medium=onesignal&utm_source=push_notifications&utm_campaign=web_push

I gather there are only twelve Club's under the Mid Solent Football League's umbrella with just one division and no promotion or relegation so they have already gone ahead and awarded a point to each team for the remaining League fixtures by way of 0-0 draws. Therefore a team called Harvest Home were crowned Champions by one point from, wait for it, FC Strawberry. As far as I am aware the competition is at Step 7 level of the Pyramid but I'm not 100% certain as the Mid Solent Football League didn't take part in the FA Inter League Cup: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/harvest-home-boss-apologises-title-rivals-after-being-crowned-mid-solent-league-champions-2527195 https://fulltime.thefa.com/ff/LeagueDetails?leagueid=9826989&tab=clubs

Last season's (2018/19) Anagram Records Trophy competition wasn't without its problems either with the Final between Catholic United and Clapton CFC being in doubt due to crowd disturbance fears from 'Clapton CFC Ultras' before finally being played at Redbridge FC on 4 May (pictured below) which Catholic United won 5-1 to lift the trophy. Old Bradwell United were beaten by the eventual winners without laying a glove on them in the Quarter Final, going down 3-0 at Abbey Road: https://www.claptoncfc.co.uk/2019/05/05/catholic-united-fc-5-clapton-cfc-1-cup-hopes-washed-away-in-second-half-goal-deluge/ https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?post=923193;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed

Here we go folks, problem solved by the Mid Solent Football League, why didn't we all think of that, make all remaining League fixtures 0-0 draws therefore awarding a point to each team for all remaining League fixtures:

It doesn't seem to have stopped her before when putting us right on certain things, it would just be nice to get some clarification from the horses mouth. Anyway, a certain match Official regularly comments on here, should that not be frowned upon by the SSML hierarchy, particularly as he has close links with one Club in particularly who play in Division One.

Further to my last post, I don't recall seeing Alex Cunningham's letters to both the Football Association and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport earlier this week but at least the FA responded promptly albeit unsatisfactorily. Here is an article from the Evening Standard on Thursday following Mr Cunningham's letters: Pressure on the Football Association to reconsider the decision to end the non-league season is growing, as two MPs joined the fight. As of Wednesday morning, 132 clubs - including League One pair Peterborough United and Lincoln City - had signed an open letter threatening legal action if the FA does does not "urgently" reconsider voiding the campaign for steps three to six of the non-league pyramid, and expunging all results. Meanwhile, the National League, which makes up steps one and two, has announced an indefinite suspension to the season and says it will seek legal advice over how to conclude the campaign - with or without fulfilling remaining fixtures. Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, has written to the sports minister Nigel Huddleston asking for him to intervene. Stockton Town were 13 points clear at the top of Northern League Division One. Jacob Young, MP for Redcar where Redcar Athletic and Marske United are both affected, has also contacted DCMS. The disaffected club say they will be forced to "embark on potential legal recourse" if they FA holds firm, with the decision still to be approved by the FA Council. The clubs said they had reached a consensus to "take a similar stance" to the Premier League, which is suspended until at least April 30, and advocated finishing the season on a points-per-game basis if it proves impossible to complete outstanding fixtures. An FA spokesperson said the decision was made by "committee representatives for the respective leagues" and "fully supported" by the governing body.

We could possibly use this thread for any future funding that might be available to SSML Club's however right now there is an emergency ₤20 million fund from Sport England offering grants to Non League and Grassroots Club's between ₤300 and ₤10,000 who are suffering hardship and currently struggling due to the situation we are all experiencing. From experience funding is not always easy to come by and like getting blood out of a stone, especially from Sport England, however let us see what this is like: https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/our-funds/community-emergency-fund

Alex Cunningham MP recently wrote to both the FA and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about the decision to null and void the 2019/20 campaign. Here is the FA's response to Mr Cunningham's letter including the interesting line "it is critical to try and preserve the integrity of competition within the Leagues by not predicting outcomes at a point where the season had not been completed":

Here is a letter sent to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport by the Member of Parliament for South Shields, it's a well worded letter isn't it:

Big J R - That was actually the letter from the Hertfordshire FA (link below) on another thread and nothing to do with Ryan Thompson's statement. I had never heard of the word Furlough before and the letter went on to say 'Furlough leave is a temporary leave of absence for economic reasons and is designed to save jobs in the long term. Our workforce is supportive of this decision and look forward to returning to work at the earliest possible opportunity'. I can't actually believe that the workforce at the Hertfordshire FA would be supportive of the decision if they have been sent home without pay for the next two months at least, there will presumably be a lot of women with children to support who do the typing and general administration so how will they get by: http://www.hertfordshirefa.com/news/2020/mar/31/operations-update

These are all things Karen could easily clear up for us once and for all, as well as whether the SSML Management Board meeting took place on 24 March and whether the SSML AGM is still planned to go ahead on 27 June however she has conveniently gone to ground.

Further to my earlier post, I'm just wondering actually whether Berkhamsted Raiders are secretly rubbing their hands following the sudden termination of the 2019/20 campaign knowing that, firstly, it was unlikely they would have completed all their fixtures anyway and, secondly, knowing full well that they would not have finished in the top five places in Division Two in order to gain promotion to Step 6 level therefore saving face. The beleaguered Club were sitting in sixth place when the curtain dropped like a stone, two points behind both Aston Clinton in fifth and and MK Gallacticos in fourth however, crucially, had played more games, furthermore Mursley United were just three points behind with three games in hand. It could be argued that they still had to entertain MK Gallacticos on 28 March and travel to Aston Clinton Park on 5 May however the way the team were performing, with one win in their last ten games, six points would have been highly unlikely.

They are still going at it hammer and tongs, hell for leather and nineteen to the dozen on another Forum, doom and gloom is putting it mildly: https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forums/index.php?threads/season-2019-20-over.1170/page-22 I think football, at any rate in front of significant crowds, will be almost the last thing to come back (it went even before Boris advised us to cut down on mass gatherings). It will eventually be accepted as necessary that kids go to school and shops etc re-open even if there's still some risk of infection. I don't think sport will be seen as a priority, quite the opposite. I hope I'm wrong though.