Southern Counties East Football League suspended until Boxing Day - but FA Vase still goes ahead as planned

The Southern Counties East Football League has issued the following statement:

“The board of directors met this morning to discuss the implications of the newly-announced tier restrictions.

As you know, Kent is placed in Tier Three which covers around half of the clubs in our constitution for the 2020/21 season. All of our remaining clubs are placed in Tier Two regions. However, the board were also aware that many players live in Tier Three areas and play for Tier Two clubs, and vice-versa.

Under Tier Three restrictions, fans cannot attend matches, which have to be played behind closed doors. Fans can watch football at Tier Two grounds but the openings of bars and clubhouses is severely restricted.

The possibility of continuing football on our proposed restart date of December 12 was considered by the board, along with amending fixtures to allow Tier Two clubs to play each other in the short term but we did not want to put a divide in our league and leave clubs disadvantaged in the second half of the season.

We would be failing our responsibilities as a board and as a competition if we were to restart football and encourage players from Tier Three to play at Tier Two grounds just for the sake of football while the current tier levels are in place.

This is a serious pandemic and the situation in Kent is greater now than it has ever been since March. 

We all know how important it is to try and keep everyone as safe as possible and we do not want to expose our clubs, their officials, our match officials and players to unnecessary risk.

The Government will be reviewing their decision on tiers every two weeks, and as such the board were conscious that parts of Kent may be moved out of Tier Three in a fortnight, although we do not have a crystal ball and we do not know exactly what the future holds.

We will look to restart matches as soon as possible and with the next review of the Tier system due to be made in mid-December, we will re-assess the situation at this stage.

As a result, all matches in the Southern Counties East League are therefore suspended until Saturday, December 26.

The board will meet in mid-December to discuss whether it is feasible for matches to resume from that date.

With regards to clubs in the FA Vase, we have been informed by the FA that these games will go ahead. 

Those teams will carry on playing in the FA Vase competition only with matches planned from December 5. If clubs in Tier Three are due to be at home then those matches will be played behind closed doors.

If clubs in Tier Three are playing away to a Tier Two club, the guidance from the FA is that spectators from Tier Three should not travel as you should be remaining in your tier. Please respect this guidance and do not put yourself and others at unnecessary risk.

As much as we all love our football and can’t wait to restart the season, the board value each other and all our participants and volunteers even more. Please keep safe and we hope for better news in the weeks ahead.”

Visit the Southern Counties East Football League website: www.scefl.com