Following the escalation of Gloucestershire to Tier 4 and the prevalence of the new variant coronavirus, the North Wilts Youth League opted to postpone the next three weeks of league fixtures.
The following statement was released following the postponements:
“As a result of the recent Government announcement on Tier changes, the League has decided to postpone all fixtures for the next 3 weekends (until 17th January) and will continue to review the situation as the Government
makes future decisions about Tier changes.
Although the Government and FA guidelines state that organized U18 football can continue at Tier 3 & Tier 4, things are a little more complicated. You also need to consider the restrictions on crossing a Tier 4 boundary as well.
From a League perspective we have Wiltshire Clubs in Tier 3 and Swindon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Clubs in Tier 4. But we don’t have a single Tier 3 to Tier 4 boundary, we have multiple boundaries because you are locked into a local authority area and teams are not permitted to fulfil fixtures in any other local authority area even if for example the area is at the same Tier 4 level (e.g., a Swindon team is not permitted to play a Gloucestershire team, even though both authorities are Tier 4).
Therefore, for fixtures we now have 5 pools of Clubs that could play each other as long as they stay within their own pool.
However, there is another complication, players and coaches cannot cross boundaries either, for both matches and training. So, for example Swindon teams (T4) may have players living in Wiltshire (T3) or Gloucestershire (T4), but they cannot travel to play football.Then there is the potential issue of venues. We do not know what venues will now be available given the new situation.
We still want to facilitate our Clubs to play football if they want to and are in a position to do so. However, we are not in a position to be able to decide which fixtures can go ahead given the multiple restrictions detailed previously.”
With this in mind, the Club has opted to pause all football activities, including training, until such time as the league reviews the situation in three weeks time.
Fairford is currently experiencing a very level of infection, and with parents, carers, grandparents and other adults frequently spectating and supporting their players and the Club at matches and training, the safety of all must be paramount.
As a Club we appreciate that there will be disappointment at once again having to pause our seasons, every coach at the Club shares that disappointment, however the health and safety of all connected with our Club is paramount.
Please check our Social Media for regular updates – we hope to be back as soon as it is safe to do so.