As COVID-19 continues to decimate the sporting world, one area that has gone particularly under the radar, is that of non-league football. As a keen follower and supporter of a non-league team myself, I wanted to do some digging and really find out what affect this pandemic is having on the lower rungs of the footballing ladder.
Foley’s Thoughts
I sat down with Michael Foley, the Chief Executive of Ilford FC who play in the Essex Senior League, the ninth tier of English football, to get his inside thoughts on the ongoing outbreak.
“With the club not being directly involved in any promotion or relegation issues, the main difficulty from our perspective has been responding to circumstances which have been changing on a daily basis.”
The league then issued a blanket cancellation for last Saturday, but clubs were advised that future scheduled games were still on. This was until yesterday, when the ESL announced another blanket postponement until 30th March.
“This is all unsettling and avoidable and most observers understand that only a total shutdown of all sporting engagement will satisfy the need to afford the greatest protection available for the greatest number of people,” Foley said.
Wishful Thinking?
The FA have written to all non league associations (from the National League down) stating that games are to be postponed until April 3rd at the earliest, the same as the professional leagues in England, however with the current spread of the virus, this does seem unlikely.
Affected Clubs
Foley continued to state how the virus has potentially impacted his club. “A Tower Hamlets player was diagnosed just after having played against us last Saturday. Unfortunately, we’d gone ahead with a Wednesday evening fixture against Enfield before news broke – and only then were players, coaches and other club staff instructed to self-isolate!”
The spread of the virus has already impacted one club at Non-League level, with National League side Barnet having issued redundancies to all non-playing staff, which has shown the immediate detrimental affect this worldwide pandemic is having on lower sides.
With these thoughts, Foley and all managers and clubs at levels of non-league are re-iterating the same thing. Safety is paramount and we need to ensure people are safe and healthy again, before any sport can go ahead.
