Decision to cancel Caithness summer league for another year 'the sensible thing to do'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The county league has been scrapped for a second successive summer amid ongoing concerns over Covid-19 restrictions.
Caithness AFA concluded that cancelling competitive football is "the sensible thing to do", although clubs have the opportunity to arrange friendlies as long as the league secretary is kept informed.
The amateur season had been due to kick off on June 30 in a shortened format with 14 clubs divided into East and West leagues, finishing on August 21. However, a delay of at least a fortnight was agreed because of worries over Covid numbers in the area.
Now the league has been cancelled altogether, with officials saying they hope for a "clear run" next year.
In an email sent to clubs last Friday, CAFA said: "To date we have held several meetings and all clubs are still not ready despite the requirement to have all the risk assessments etc in place prior to the start of training/match play on May 17.
"We, as a committee, had a meeting yesterday [Thursday] as we approach the end of an agreed two-week delay to the start of our proposed short competition and have decided that the sensible thing to do is cancel all competitive football for this year."
Reasons for the decision were given as:
- Lack of compliance to the protocols put in place by SportScotland/SFA.
- Lack of toilets, showers, changing facilities particularly for visiting teams.
- Lack of daylight towards the end of August.
- Managing potential public participation.
"We appreciate there are several clubs desperate to play football even under the strict protocols and are happy for them to proceed on a ‘friendly’ basis which they can arrange between themselves provided the secretary is kept aware of when/where this will happen just to be constitutional," the email continued.
"This approach will allow clubs who are comfortable playing to play as much football as they want, while removing the pressure on clubs who are cautious in the current climate to play regular organised football. This approach also removes the hassle of compliance with the constitution which might involve rearranging matches for whatever reason or involving a discipline procedure for non-fulfilment of fixtures.
"Whatever you decide to do please do it safely and in compliance with the protocols in place at the time and let’s hope we get a clear run at next season."
Caithness AFA president Murray Coghill said: "We agreed to organise a short competitive season on May 17 based on the assumption that all Covid-related restrictions would be lifted at the beginning of July and as we approached that time it was clear that the restrictions were not being lifted and several clubs were not ready."
Some of the Caithness village teams will be taking part in a round-robin series of games in the absence of a competitive county league.
One club official said: “The boys just want to play football. We want to do it safely and responsibly, and we don't want anyone to suffer as a result.
“There's more than us – there is women's football and there is the junior level. We realise it is a difficult tightrope to walk but if we can do it safely then that is our ultimate aim.
“It's set up in a league fashion but the games are going to be played as friendlies. As long as it's not interpreted as a breakaway type of arrangement, because it's not – we just want a platform to do what we usually do in the summertime.”
