End of Season Cups not on the agenda for Isthmian League Clubs

The Pitching In Isthmian League board have decided not to arrange secondary competitions this summer for their clubs.

Leagues at Step 5 and 6 have started to organise tournaments for their members following the decision to curtail the season.

The voluntary competitions are planned to start from April 12th and run until the end of May, but more information is required as to if crowds can return, if they can’t they won’t happen.

The Isthmian League, at Steps 3 and 4, however, won’t be running any such events.

Vice-chairman Craig Johnson told the Non League Paper,

“I believe a lot of clubs who were anti-curtailing or null-and-voiding the season have come round to the way of thinking that it is the right decision because it has gone on a lot longer than people first imagined.
“In general, we said all along that we wouldn’t force clubs back in to play without fans and also without secondary spend. We also said we wanted to curtail the season before May 31. The government announcing stadiums can’t open until May 17 doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.
“We, as a board, spoke about it and put the plusses and minuses together. There were a lot more minuses than plusses so we decided we would not be running a league cup type of event.
“We felt the window for fans and secondary spend, clubs have still got the opportunity to keep players on furlough, it would mean bringing players off that. It was an overwhelming decision by the board to not organise that.
“At the end of the day, it’s still down to clubs if they want to play friendlies. I read people want to get back and play, but I read more people saying ‘let’s forget about it and come back and have a good pre-season, and hopefully start in August with fans back at normal capacities’.”