Football club blasts League: 'Either it is unsafe to play football with spectators.... or not'
Ram Meadow, home of Bury Town - Credit: Archant
The directors of Bury Town Football Club have hit out at the Isthmian League, as the Blues season continues to be suspended.
The Ram Meadow club, who are in Isthmian North, have played just four league games so far this campaign. And the fear is the season will not get finished.
The Isthmian League is part of the 'Trident League' group of Leagues - Isthmian, Southern and Northern, who all elected not to re-start in November - but now the Northern Premier League is re-starting on Saturday. The Isthmian League is not. Something the Bury directors are asking questions as to why.
Bury Town chairman, Russell Ward
In a statement, the directors of Bury Town said:
Bury Town FC remain disappointed that the Isthmian League continues to suspend its season in light of the tier systems across the country, despite the fact that there is no national lockdown and paying crowds are permitted at non-league matches in all tiers.
When the 'Trident Leagues' elected not to re-start as planned in November, it was based on a vote from every club in all three leagues. As the majority of clubs in the Northern Premier League were in Tier 3 and not permitted spectators at the time, the vote was in favour of not re-starting the season.
What is also disappointing is the Northern Premier League have now chosen to break away from the 'Trident Leagues' partnership and their season is re-starting for clubs who wish to take part on Saturday 19th December. The Isthmian and Southern Leagues remain suspended. We presume this is the end of the 'Trident Leagues' partnership going forward?
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It is also hard to understand that the Football Association insist that their FA Trophy and FA Vase fixtures go ahead as planned, either it is unsafe to play football with spectators at our level or it is not.
Having only played 4 league matches heading into the 2nd week in January, it will be hard for us to see a way to complete all our League fixtures. Pressure will be put on our players to play up to three times a week to complete the season.
We were prepared to re-start the season despite the restrictions on crowd levels and food and drink sales and make the best of a bad situation, unfortunately others were happy to sit back and put obstacles in the way of every suggestion.
We would like to thank our players, staff, sponsors and supporters for your continued support and we hope to have some positive news in January.
The Directors
Bury Town Football Club
