Following the news from the Football Association on March 27th regarding grassroots football, Kevin Turner, the Secretary of the Sevenoaks & District Football League, released a statement saying that the league will meet digitally to decide how to close out the 2019/20 season.
The FA said: “We can now confirm that we have decided that all grassroots football is concluded for the 2019-20 season. This will allow the game to move forward and to commence planning for next season. Our County Football Associations will be supporting grassroots leagues over the coming days to determine how they should close out their current competitions”.
This statement opened the doors for each league to decide how their season is completed, and led to this response by Mr Turner: “The League’s preferred option (to play out the 2019/2020 season) is not one of those that the FA will mandate. We may either void the 2019/2020 season or allocate points per game (PPG)”.
He continued: “It is suggested that a Special General Meeting of clubs be held to decide how you will all wish to conclude the season, but we shall look into the logistics of this an putting on a WebEx or Zoom conference call.”
Is PPG a decent alternative to complete season records?
After hearing this news we thought it would be interesting to see if a PPG option would actually make a real difference for the year. Obviously if voided there would be no official records for the season, however if the league should want to declare champions, runners-up, promoted and relegated teams they would have to use the PPG system to get a result.
Below we go through each league to see who would have been declared Champions, who would get promoted and who would get relegated (based on two up two down). Please note that this is for guidance only and has yet to be sanctioned by the league.
What do you think? Should the league be voided or should PPG be used to complete the season? Let us know!
Sevenoaks & District League – Premier Division
St Lawrence hadn’t lost a league game all season so it would have been harsh should they not win the league. The PPG system has them at the top with Hildenborough Athletic jumping up two places to take the runners-up spot. Blackham & Ashurst and Tonbridge Invicta are unchanged in the relegation spots.
Sevenoaks & District League – Division One
Woodlands FC dropped out of Division One early in the season so with only 16 games to play the majority of teams had played a good percentage of the league season. Hawkenbury occupied top spot all season long, but with PPG kicking in, Dartford Celtic sneak to the Championship place with 2.42 PPG. Otford United Reserves take the one relegation place which is unchanged.
Sevenoaks & District League – Division Two
Eynsford and Kemsing United Reserves had been trading blows at the top of the league all season, however they should have been looking at Seal in mid-table as they jumped five places to scoop top spot in the PPG system. Boro Lane and Weald Wolves are unchanged in the relegation spots.
Sevenoaks & District League – Division Three
Penshurst Park earn themselevs the Division Three Championship after winning nine out of ten games, giving them an enviable 2.8 PPG total. Roselands however find themselves in the second promotion place with 2.50 PPG having only completed four matches all season. Nomads Development and Swanley are unchanged in the relegation spots.
Sevenoaks & District League – Division Four
The final two promotion spots in the league go to Green Street Green Rovers as Champions, and Horsmonden, after successful campaigns for both clubs which saw them only lose one game between them. There is no relegation in Division Four.
What do you think? Should the league be voided or should PPG be used to complete the season? Let us know!
Cup competitions
Mr Turner added: “As far as cup competitions are concerned this seems a little vague at the moment and it is suggested that cup finals may be played as a season opener (whenever that may be!). Perhaps semi finals may be allowed to be played but this is unclear. It is thought that any rounds prior to the semi- final will not be allowed”.
