National League to continue ... for now

[DangerousSausage]

The votes are in, and while the NLN and NLS have voted to void their season, most NL clubs voted to carry on. So carry on we will, at least for the time being.

Dark clouds are looming though. Dover have already taken their ball home with them and declared that they're not going to play any more games. I have the feeling that a clutch of other clubs are waiting to see how the National League deals with them before acting. King's Lynn have only committed to playing until the end of February. The NL have the right to turf Dover out for refusing to play. If they don't, there's no incentive for half the clubs in the league to carry on, what with there being no relegation and no punishment. If several clubs are allowed to mothball their season, it could make the season difficult to finish and would dramatically alter the table.

With no fans and no relegation, some clubs could also field a youth team. It could render some games a farce.

We live in chaotic times...

[liampie]

i think its the right decision, its important to give the league time to finish. having a break like last season could work if needed but voiding it would be pointless. why would we want to invest our time in a sport where a league could be deemed useless?

[RetroPie 𝕏 @Retro_Pie]

17 hours ago, DangerousSausage said:

The NL have the right to turf Dover out for refusing to play.

I would say, Dover need to be removed.

Offer a playoff style tournament for the league(s) below to replace them, refusing to play and furloughing all their staff doesn't sit well with me. Considering they signed players when asking for donations, if money is tight keep a better balance on the books. It seems they want a hand out in this situation, the club should be punished.

As for the National League continuing it makes sense, if the players are being tested and kept safe play until it becomes harder.

The NA can always briefly suspend the league.

[CliftonMagpie]

If it stopped, then the same result has last season needs to be worked out.

Allow playoffs to happen and automatic promotion, thankfully this has not happened and we've been able to see it continue. Covid should improve with the vaccine so the situation might do so too.

[menzinho]

From the off the whole thing has been handled poorly. You couldn’t pick a worse time to be a part of the slowest, most unreactive and indecisive sports league in the world.

The issue is still far from resolved with Dover effectively ending their season (– give it a month and news of this might get to the NL board…) But how many more teams will follow?

Kings Lynn say they can play another 2 games… Almost pointless us playing them if that’s the case.

And now there’s talk that teams in the NL S/N who wanted to carry on are tying to do just that! So what waste of time that vote was. Teams like Dover and Kings Lynn who think this season has no relegation, well it might still have now. A total mess and only one organisation to blame.

We're lucky with the current owners, things seem to be ok for us - but my god I'm praying we can get out of this league this season!