Hawks’ National League South title rivals vote to bring season to a premature end

Wealdstone were three points ahead of the Hawks, and held a game in hand, when the 2019/20 season was halted by Covid-19 in the middle of last month.

All 68 National League clubs - 24 in the top flight and 22 each in the South and North divisions - have been asked to vote to whether to bring the campaign to a premature end. They need to do this by May 7.

If the majority of clubs vote to end the season now, they will then be asked to vote again on how it should finish - with obvious options including null and void or points per game (PPG).

Hawks have already said they are totally against null and void, while Westleigh Park boss Paul Doswell has repeatedly insisted he believes the season should be played to a conclusion - even if that means 2019/20 restarting in June, July or August.

Wealdstone president Paul Rumens - a former Stones chairman - has revealed his club have voted to end the season now, and is desperately hoping clubs then choose to adopt the PPG system.

‘It’s poor that the league has not asked the clubs to vote with a full list of options,’ said Rumens.

‘If we’re being asked to vote on ending the league, we should be given the options - either null and void, points per game with no promotion or relegation, points per game with promotion, or any other combinations.’

While Hawks’ fate is still unclear, clubs in steps 3-7 of the non-league pyramid have had their seasons declared null and void with no promotion or relegation.

‘I don’t agree with that at all,’ said Rumens. ‘That’s abhorrently wrong - to make that decision without the leagues having consulted with the clubs was scandalous, shocking.

‘For the FA (Council) to then uphold that decision … I didn’t agree with it all.

‘You simply cannot null and void our season. It’s only right for football that the 19/20 season is not written off - it has to be in the record books.’

Rumens added: ‘Our 2019/20 season started on something like May 8 last year when we lost the play-off semi-final.

‘I would say most clubs are in the same boat - the new season starts the day after the last one finished, in terms of reseeding pitches, renewing contracts.

‘So really we have been involved in the 19/20 season for effectively 10 months .. we went top of the table in mid-August and have stayed there ever since. I would find it incredibly wrong if our season was null and voided.

‘I would hope National League clubs would vote for the points per game system. It seems to have worked well for the RFU and it seems to have worked well up in Scotland.

‘It is a very difficult decision and I do sympathise with the league and with the FA … null and void would be the easiest decision for them to make, there’s less chance of the league being sued (by clubs) or the FA being sued.

‘I don’t think 10 months of hard work should go to waste because of a virus that was beyond the control of anyone.

‘I know people have said we shouldn’t be talking about football when hundreds of people are dying each day, but I’m not trivialising the virus in any way.

‘There are hundreds of thousands of people involved in the non league game. For some of them, outside of their own families, the only thing they have got is their local football club.

‘I know I speak as someone whose club is sitting proudly at the top of their table, and I know clubs at the bottom will think they shouldn’t be relegated.

‘But the system has been good enough for the RFU - it’s worked really well there.’

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen many non-league clubs - like hundreds of small businesses nationally - facing an uncertain future.

‘Whether Wealdstone get promoted or not, next season we will be seriously up against it financially,’ Rumens explained.

‘We only get a small amount of our money through gate receipts, our social club is the heart of the community - we have archery classes on the outside pitches, we have zumba and other fitness classes.

‘We have live music every Friday, and we do make good money out of the fact we’re only three stops from Wembley on the Metropolitan line.

‘We have had some phenomenal days with cup finals, and rugby league finals.

‘We’ve built up a good relationship with Manchester City, we’ve had over 1,000 of their fans on cup final days.

‘They would rather give their money to a small non league club than to a corporate giant, and we don’t rip people off with our prices.

‘Every club is in the same boat as we are, I don’t believe there’s many who are not. It could be a year or two before some properly recover, and some clubs won’t recover.’

In terms of voting on whether the season should be ended prematurely, each of the 24 National League top flight clubs have a vote. But the NL South (four) and NL North (four) only have eight between them. Hawks have condemned that procedure and believe all 68 clubs should have a vote each.

This is how the voting works: the 22 National League South clubs will all vote. If the majority of clubs vote to end the season now, all four of the division’s votes will be cast for that option.

It’s the same situation in the NL North. If the majority of clubs voted to carry on the season, all four votes will be to carry on.

If the majority decision of the 32 overall votes is to end the season now, clubs will then vote on how to end it.

Stephen Cleeve, the owner of NL North high-fliers Kings Lynn, has revealed that the NL were initially keen on declaring the South and North divisions null and void.

‘The reason they couldn’t is because of the league’s ‘articles of association’,’ he said. ‘The legal bits can be a bit dull but in this instance it saved our bacon.

‘In the ‘articles of association’ it says that the National League cannot treat the South and North divisions in a different way to the National League.

‘If they had null and voided South and North, they would have had to null and void the National League as well.’