THE resumption of action in the Kitchen Kit South West Peninsula League could see the introduction of a new one-off cup competition.
If a halt is called to league fixtures, with the season either being declared null and void, or the 2020-21 campaign being continued into next season, league officials will look to fill the remainder of this season with cup matches.
An SWPL virtual board meeting last Thursday stopped short of issuing a formal statement afterwards declaring the end of league fixtures for this season.
They will now wait to see what the Football Association come up, with the FA surveying clubs to determine how they would like to see the current campaign concluded.
However, they have written to the FA expressing their concerns about resuming league games in this calendar season.
They also agreed to let clubs know that they might not be able to guarantee being able to fulfil any vote for a points per game (PPG) outcome as they cannot give assurances that sufficient games would be played to reach the threshold set by the FA, with that being possibly as high as 66% or 75% of fixtures completed.
However, if the league does not resume, league officials are planning an exciting end to the season for clubs by holding two cup competitions.
League secretary Phil Hiscox told the Cornish Times: “We have agreed that if football can resume by Easter (the beginning of April), we will propose running the Walter C Parson Cup in the normal format.”
This is opposed to the truncated end-of-season version that had been planned involving the top four sides in the Premier East and Premier West divisions meeting each other on a knockout basis.
“There could also be a one-off Covid Cup which, depending on a restart date, could be in a mini groups format.”
Saltash United are currently the holders of the Walter C Parson League Cup.
With the FA likely to resume the Cornwall Senior Cup if football gets underway again, that could leave three pieces of silverware still up for grabs for clubs, giving a meaningful and enjoyable end to what has been a torrid campaign badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic and call-offs caused by bad weather.
The FA has told clubs in Steps Three to Six nationally that league fixtures cannot resume until all clubs can admit paying spectators to a 30% grading requirement, and that all clubs are able to access secondary income streams, such as bar revenue.
The SWPL is in Step Six, and league officials have already declared that league matches will not resume until both Devon and Cornwall are moved back into at least Tier Two, and that seems a long way off, with the current national lockdown in place until mid-February, cases in the South West still rising, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson promising a very gradual easing of restrictions when lockdown finally ends.
Two Step Seven leagues – the Lincolnshire |Football League and the West Lancashire |League – have already declared their seasons null and void.