A&H

They think it's all over ... It is now!

The Referee Store
Interesting to see what happens to referees promotions as well, whether they won't happen, even if the criteria has been met, certainly upto and including promotion to L4.

Being on the 5-4 promotion track and having completed all of the criteria it could easily all need to be repeated once the new season starts, whenever that may be!
 
All competitions should be frozen and resumed early next year. The season can be named 2019-2020-2021.
I doubt there will be vaccines available for the general public in time for the start of the new season, and until there is a vaccine available there will always be restrictions on our lives. Mutiple player sport will likely be restricted until 2021, maybe this time next year. So freeze all the competitions and hopefully resume them next March! Covid-19 is not going away any time soon.
 
All competitions should be frozen and resumed early next year. The season can be named 2019-2020-2021.
I doubt there will be vaccines available for the general public in time for the start of the new season, and until there is a vaccine available there will always be restrictions on our lives. Mutiple player sport will likely be restricted until 2021, maybe this time next year. So freeze all the competitions and hopefully resume them next March! Covid-19 is not going away any time soon.

You say that but players in China have started training again and they are hoping to resume the league soon. It the virus behaves the same way over here that would take us to around June, although the difference is China implemented strict lock down a lot quicker than we did, and you could argue we still haven't.
 
Interesting to see what happens to referees promotions as well, whether they won't happen, even if the criteria has been met, certainly upto and including promotion to L4.

Being on the 5-4 promotion track and having completed all of the criteria it could easily all need to be repeated once the new season starts, whenever that may be!

I hope there will be a sensible and pragmatic approach. The marking season started in March, and was only extended to the end of April as this is the transition season to move to aligning with the playing season. So I would argue why does it matter that the season ended in March, that's when it would have ended anyway in a normal season.

The flip side to that is how will it look if referees promotions (and demotions) stand yet a team that has finished 20 point clear and +67 goal difference, like Jersey Bulls in the Combined Counties D1 (step 6), don't get promoted? That might be a difficult message I guess.
 
The flip side to that is how will it look if referees promotions (and demotions) stand yet a team that has finished 20 point clear and +67 goal difference, like Jersey Bulls in the Combined Counties D1 (step 6), don't get promoted? That might be a difficult message I guess.

IMHO that is a completely false comparison. Referees are evaluated against meeting a standard. Teams are evaluated against one another. Put another way, for teams it is a zero sum game; for referees it is not. I can't think of any reason that a referee who was able to demonstrate competency in the required number of observations should be denied a promotion--having more games would not have changed that result.
 
IMHO that is a completely false comparison. Referees are evaluated against meeting a standard. Teams are evaluated against one another. Put another way, for teams it is a zero sum game; for referees it is not. I can't think of any reason that a referee who was able to demonstrate competency in the required number of observations should be denied a promotion--having more games would not have changed that result.

I agree with you, I just think that others might think otherwise. Referees are promoted or demoted over the course of a season, so some may argue that if that season is expunged and refereeing performances in it should also be expunged.
 
You say that but players in China have started training again and they are hoping to resume the league soon. It the virus behaves the same way over here that would take us to around June, although the difference is China implemented strict lock down a lot quicker than we did, and you could argue we still haven't.
China was able to lock down a huge population, which Europe or USA and Canada have not and because of the West's way of life will never be able to do. I hope that I am wrong, but much of the world will be locked down, maybe not continuously, for the rest of the year. China are already planning for a second wave of infections. Expungement of results is too soon, just freeze every competition until more is known.
 
Malden & Tiptree have played 27 and won 27. Mathematically, they had already won promotion a few games ago, but now they're not going up - makes absolutely no sense for them
 
Malden & Tiptree have played 27 and won 27. Mathematically, they had already won promotion a few games ago, but now they're not going up - makes absolutely no sense for them

Part of the challenge is that for someone to go up, someone from the other division has to go down. I don't think there are any good answers here, only a choice amongst bad ones.
 
I'm surprised professional leagues don't have provisions for what happens when a season cannot be completed. You can't just assume that the season can always be completed because, as this coronavirus outbreak shows, anything can happen.

I remember assisting a league in drafting provisions for what happens when a season can't be completed a while back. They opted for an interesting system - a straight knockout tourney but teams higher in the league get to play with an extra player. I'll try and dig out the regulations if I can.

Edit:
Just got hold of the regulations and been told that the league intends to use the regulations to complete the season. Pro game needs something similar to this.
 

Attachments

  • The_procedure.pdf
    162.8 KB · Views: 8
Part of the challenge is that for someone to go up, someone from the other division has to go down. I don't think there are any good answers here, only a choice amongst bad ones.

Exactly that. Whilst the team at the top might be 20 points clear, the team bottom of the league below might only be separated from the team above them by goal difference.

There's no easy answer here, what suits one team won't suit another.
 
I'm surprised professional leagues don't have provisions for what happens when a season cannot be completed. You can't just assume that the season can always be completed because, as this coronavirus outbreak shows, anything can happen.

I remember assisting a league in drafting provisions for what happens when a season can't be completed a while back. They opted for an interesting system - a straight knockout tourney but teams higher in the league get to play with an extra player. I'll try and dig out the regulations if I can.

Edit:
Just got hold of the regulations and been told that the league intends to use the regulations to complete the season. Pro game needs something similar to this.

How are they going to do that? If in England and an affiliated league they can't and have to follow the FA ruling, but don't know if it is an English league. But regardless of where they are, how are they going to have a tournament when the country is in lock down until further notice? At what point do you have to give up on it as you get close to the start of the new season?
 
Suspend until March 2021 and then continue. Simples ;)
The only people who will benefit from that suggestion would be the lawyers and attorneys arguing over the deals and contracts for players, TV, sponsors and agents.
It'll be far from simple for the players themselves, the clubs, the people they employ, the FA, UEFA and FIFA.
 
From a footballing sense somehow, somewhere, seasons should be finished. There are so many complications to not doing that it’s not true. When it’s safe to do so all life will start back up again. If next season is messed with then so be it. Rivalry aside I wouldn’t want Leeds promoted or denied promotion in a courtroom. There are many others examples too!
 
From a footballing sense somehow, somewhere, seasons should be finished. There are so many complications to not doing that it’s not true. When it’s safe to do so all life will start back up again. If next season is messed with then so be it. Rivalry aside I wouldn’t want Leeds promoted or denied promotion in a courtroom. There are many others examples too!

Legal challenges would be futile. There's something in the rule wording around a league table will be produced at the conclusion of the competition, and in this case it hasn't concluded, at least not in terms of the rules as conclusion means every club has played each other home and away. Whilst league tables are produced after every game they are for guidance only and not in any way binding.
 
How are they going to do that? If in England and an affiliated league they can't and have to follow the FA ruling, but don't know if it is an English league. But regardless of where they are, how are they going to have a tournament when the country is in lock down until further notice? At what point do you have to give up on it as you get close to the start of the new season?
England. What is the FA ruling?
 
Legal challenges would be futile. There's something in the rule wording around a league table will be produced at the conclusion of the competition, and in this case it hasn't concluded, at least not in terms of the rules as conclusion means every club has played each other home and away. Whilst league tables are produced after every game they are for guidance only and not in any way binding.
Lawyers would love to take up this case. They'll probably argue about how the league's cancellation caused a club financial losses. And, when taking civil action, the judge will decide whether the club has suffered financial loss on the balance of probabilities.
 
Back
Top