A virus out of nowhere. A virus sweeping the globe, leaving people fearing for their lives and those of loved ones. Corona virus began in Wuhan, China, but a few weeks on is now a worldwide pandemic!
Football takes a back seat in times like these but what will happen when The Beautiful Game begins again?
The Non-League Paper announced yesterday that Steps 5 and 6 seasons are to end ‘immediately’ while Steps 3 and 4 have ‘commenced the process to terminate the season’.
But what now for teams fighting for promotion and those trying to steer clear of the drop? Will the National League follow suit and too terminate the season?
In a quite bizarre ending to a season, a lot is going to have to be decided on what will happen with Non-League football and quickly.
For me, you have got to try and complete the season at every level of football. How can one team be given promotion when they are only ahead at the top because they have played more games? What about when a team are only in the relegation zone because they have played all the ‘top teams’ and have still got them ‘massive games’ against teams who are just above them?
All leagues should find a way of completing the season. How about having now as the ‘off season’ and then we finish the season when were able to? Then we move straight onto the next season. Surely that is the logical way and fairest way to do things.
You can’t finish the season with the table looking like The National League North Table does above. Their has to be a fair an concise way of either completing the season or bringing it to a sensible end to find which teams finish in which position.
The only other logically fair way of doing things would be to have final league positions decided on an ‘Average Points-Per-Game Ratio’. Average out how many games played to how many points won and then see what the average is. Multiply that by the scheduled 42 league games. Yes, some teams might still need to play teams at the top or near the bottom of the league but without the season completing this is the only fair way of doing it.
It’s a sad and desperate time for the world as a whole and life without football doesn’t seem right. Health far outweighs being able to play and watch the sport that so many love but football will be back soon and the grimace of Corona Virus shall be gone.
Stay safe, stay at home and look after those around you.
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JJ O'Donnell 
I feel that, if the leagues can”t be completed, then I’m afraid the results have to be expunged.
The ideal outcome would be for football to start up once more, the season to complete and promotion and relegation decided on the pitch. However, there will come a time when we have to draw the line and say that is not possible. As you will know better than I, contracts at non-league level tend to only be for one year and often expire at the end of May and some players may already have agreements in place to move elsewhere. Do we force players to stay with their existing clubs as it doesn’t seem fair to allow them to move clubs this late in the season?
As for deciding positions based on points-per-game, again, I don’t see that as being fair. Football is all about the unexpected – the bottom of the league team beating the top of the league team, a moment of brilliance deciding a promotion or relegation 6-pointer. Deciding the remaining games on what had happened before would take the human element out of the game which is one of the reasons I hate VAR so much!
As I said earlier, the ideal outcome would be for the season to be played out but that could only be fair if all leagues were completed. If the National League decide to continue but the EFL opt to void their season, it would be heartbreaking for the team that finish top of the NL.
This is a, hopefully, once in a lifetime situation and I’m struggling to see a satisfactory conclusion as there will be winners and losers whatever the decision is.
Loving the blog JJ and best of luck with the degree.👍
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