Yorkshire Amateur joint manager Craig Ogilvie wants to know the Toolstation NCEL’s apocalypse plans if the season cannot be finished.
The FA, leagues and clubs are desperate for the Non League season to avoid a repeat of last season’s null and void debacle and the NCEL recently asked clubs to vote on how the campaign should be ended if completing it is unachievable.
The result of the vote is unknown and it remains unclear on what happens in the worst case scenario.
“There still seems to be no clarification as to what we do if we don’t finish the league,” Ogilvie told Non League Yorkshire.
“It is alright saying ‘yeah we’ll get it finished’, but in our league we have some teams who have played four or five games. Some have played nine or ten.
“There needs to be some clarity soon so everyone knows where they stand.”
Promotion-chasing Ammers restart their Premier Division campaign by making the journey to Athersley Rec tomorrow. They then host Penistone Church on the 29th December.
Ogilvie has been a firm backer of continuing the campaign but even he admits that he had mixed feelings about the restart because of the short notice.
“We actually found out while we were playing a friendly and we were 30 minutes into and someone ‘oh you’re starting again next Saturday’,” he said.
“We couldn’t believe it. It is good, but we’ve had a few lads who have had to change shifts at work, myself included.
“We were happy to start with and then lads started saying to us ‘oh I’m down to work that day now, I can’t play’. Most clubs will be in the same plight.
“It is annoying that we were told it was going to be the start of January and now it has been brought forward. I can’t moan because all I have been going on about is wanting the league to restart.
“I’m glad to be back but I do sympathise with those who are struggling because of people having prior arrangements like work.
“The league can’t really win to be fair. They are in-between a rock and a hard place. You’re going to get a 50/50 split, some are going to say no and the league aren’t going to win.
“I must say the Boxing Day fixtures are harsh, especially this year. We’ve been lucky that Penistone have agreed to switch it to the other date. We just said ‘with the year everyone’s had, can we push it back’.”
The Ammers have the opportunity to strengthen their hold on top spot and continue their almost perfect start to the campaign.
They have 26 points – eight ahead of Liversedge who could go above them if they win their games-in-hand – and Ogilvie agrees the Ammers cannot complain about their start to the season.
“We’ve ten games in and we’ve won eight and drawn two,” he said.
“At the beginning of the season if someone had said ‘we’ll give you eight wins and two draws’ we’ve have snapped their hand off.
“We’re not trying to dwell on things too much. We could be easily sat here with played ten, won ten and we’re not overly concerned.
“There were a strange few bits and pieces said when we played Goole and drew 0-0. It was like it was panic stations. I was looking at it as a point gained as Goole on a Tuesday night is a tough place to go.
“Goole probably didn’t get the credit they deserved for the way they defended against us.
“They were putting bodies behind the ball and they threw themselves at everything. It could have been worse for us as our ‘keeper probably should have seen red and he saved a penalty.
“We’ve got points on the board and only Liversedge can overtake us if they win their games-in-hand. Other teams can get close to us with their games-in-hand.
“We’ve had some difficult games. We’ve played Brid away, Mansfield away and we’re more than happy with where we are. It was a shame it came to an end in November but it was understandable.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. When we properly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.