By Euan Sangster
The Bundesliga has been announced that it is returning on May 16th, but is it the correct decision for the country and how will this have an effect on the National League?
It has been 58 days since the Beavers have played and the National League are showing no signs that they will be back in action anytime soon, unlike the Bundesliga in Germany. The German Government gave the green light for the competition to return earlier in the week and there has been mixed reaction between fans. The games are said to finish on June 27th, according to Sky Sports, meaning that it will not have any effect on player contracts that run out on July 1st.
The FA have proposed that the clubs in the English leagues would use a neutral venue to play the remaining fixtures, yet this is not the case in Germany, with all of the fixtures planned to be taking place at the original grounds that they were supposed to.
The way in which the German government has ensured that it is as safe as possible, is by testing all of the players for the virus once a week and there will only be a certain amount of people allowed in stadiums during the game. All 7 tiers of English football will be monitoring closely how well the Bundesliga does during the pandemic to see if they want to follow suit.
Meanwhile, all Beavers fans and other fans of the National League have heard is that the National League “will wait for English Football Leagues” until they make a final decision on what happens to the remaining fixtures of the season. As it stands, all of the fixtures have to be played before June 1st, unless an extension is granted by the FA, which is all but impossible to do at this moment in time due to the national pandemic, that does not appear to be slowing down any time soon.
The National League had a board meeting last week in which most of the clubs making up the three divisions expressed their opinion on what should happen with the rest of the season. The National League organisation said after this meeting that they are keen to keep the two automatic promotion spots but teams are keen to play the playoff games also, which results into a decision needed to be made by the board due to the league's all being suspended since the middle of March.
Hampton & Richmond will be hoping that they will be able to return to action soon to finish their late push for a playoff place, sitting 1 point off of the playoff spaces, in front of their fans, yet this is not looking likely that it is going to happen due to the current state of the country.
If the league was to return, what would your thoughts be Beavers fans? Would you be happy that the playoff space would still be up for grabs, or would you be upset that you would not be able to go and see your team play? Many fans believe that “football is nothing without fans” so they would rather the rest of the season be void and it ends how it is, meaning the Beavers would then have to push for a playoff space again next season.
Fans of the National League will be anticipating a decision from the board and will be hoping they get clarification on what happens to their team, for example relegation will still happen and if the playoffs will still be played but at a later date.
Countless fans across the country are not hopeful of football returning any time soon. Meanwhile, with the new lockdown steps given by the Prime Minister, it shows a good step for football to be returning in the near future due to you now being allowed to play sports with any member of your household, which is a large step in the right direction for competitive sport to return in the UK, we hope everyone is safe and wish you good health.
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