SEASON 2019/2020 has now been DECLARED NULL AND VOID

The League Executive Committee really hope that everyone within your Club is staying safe and following the government guidelines as we live through these unprecedented times. In some ways with people literally facing life and death situations it seems quite trivial to write about football, but it is felt now is the appropriate time to inform you of the League Executive decision re Season 2019 – 2020.

The decisions being conveyed below have been taken in response to advice from the FA, feedback from Clubs and our best interpretation of the current situation. The decisions made and conveyed below also are in the most part aligned to decisions made by other grassroots Leagues within our County.

All five decisions made below were unanimously agreed following a League Executive Meeting, held via Webex on Tuesday 7th April 2020. Attendance at the meeting is detailed in the Minutes of the Meeting that are being sent with this letter to all Secretaries.

1. The 2019 – 2020 Season has been declared null and void and teams will remain in the same groupings but move up an age range for the forthcoming Season with the following provisos
• Dependent on size of Divisions and teams entering for 2020 – 2021. League ideally does not want to have small Leagues if they can help it next year
• As per rules teams can appeal their division and therefore teams wanting promotion or feeling that they are struggling in their existing Division can ask for this to be reviewed. ( More details to follow ).
2. The Cups were also declared null and void for the Season and the Presentation Evening cancelled.

Although still 70% of the respondents felt this was the correct decision it was noted that Clubs with teams in the Cups still were more supportive ( not entirely ) of the Cups being played at beginning of new Season.
Due to registration of players and no knowledge of when League was able to start again it was felt that this was not feasible

A suggestion was made as to whether byes could be offered for next year for teams that were still in the Cup competition this year. However, with no certainty of Leagues and teams entering for next Season this was felt to be impractical.

3. The Adrenalin Devon Junior and Minor League is aiming to restart in September 2020 and played in usual format. If, however football is unable to return until after the 1st November 2020 due to Covid 19 then each team in each Division will only play each other once in a Season.
( If Divisions are small then the Cup Games will be played initially in a pooled basis ) Cup games will for next Season not be scheduled until after Christmas.

The main point to note is the League wanted to inform teams from the outset of the chance that only one game will be played in each Division IF the League is unable to start until the after the 1st November 2020. Reason for this is teams are aware from the outset of the Season the format to be taken if this current situation persists.

4. To support the formation of Leagues for next Season Clubs to be asked not only to confirm membership of the League for next Season by the 30th April 2020 but to also confirm team entries

Please note we accept that by doing this some teams may need to withdraw prior to AGM as they are unable to get hold of players or meet so no teams will be fined for withdrawal before the AGM. This is an indicative team request so we can see how the Leagues would look moving forward

5. League and Cup Fixed Fees not to be charged for next year. Only fee to be charged is the £ 1 per player as per Rule 4 (ii)

Please note extra teams entered by your Club will pay the League and Cup Fees. New Clubs will also pay these fees.

The above is to reflect the fact that the Season last year was not completed and therefore the financial hardship some Clubs and their members are facing as ultimately League Fees come from parents.

The Secretary acknowledged that it was impossible to please everyone at this time but hoped the proposals agreed reflected the majority view of member Clubs who responded.

As you can appreciate these decisions will not please everyone, but the decisions did reflect the majority view of Clubs and Executive Officers when consultation was undertaken. We appreciate that for teams that had progressed to the later rounds of the Cup or were in contention for honours this will be disappointing but with no immediate end in sight to this crisis it was felt that we were left with no alternative.

I am sure you can appreciate that this has been a very difficult letter to write and one that is unique in terms of the history of our League.

If you have any questions about the information contained in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note however that I will not be looking at e mails from Friday 10th April until Tuesday 14th April 2020

Finally, please stay safe and I look forward to seeing you all in person in the future.

Kind regards


Mark Rowles
General Secretary