Pitching In Southern Football League Premier Division South club Merthyr Town have very reluctantly requested a season`s `grace` due to the rise in cases in Wales caused by COVID-19.
The town of Merthyr has been added to the list of current local lockdowns in Wales, along with Newport by the Welsh Assembly Government.
The level of testing that had been taking place in Merthyr last week, plus the Assembly's current restrictions that prevent any fans attending home games have forced the Board of Directors to submit a request to the Southern League that their 2020/21 season is 'suspended' with immediate effect.
The initial outcome of the Board meeting was to request additional time to fully consult with our members. However, when the club were advised last week that the procedure would prevent this as the season was about to start, they were left with no choice but to start the process which is the last thing the Board wanted to do given the importance of the situation.
The club anticipates that the restrictions regarding the blanket ban on allowing supporters into grounds in Wales are unlikely to be relaxed in the near future and that the next step taken will possibly be to actually increase the restrictions on gatherings which may not be lifted for a number weeks, even possibly months.
Merthyr Town are currently the only one of 88 Step 3 clubs prevented from playing home games in front of their own fans.
The National Game Board has consistently stated that it would not be possible to start the season at Step 3 and below playing behind closed doors, but that’s exactly the position that Merthyr now find themselves facing for an indefinite period.
To mitigate against all of the above the Board considered the following options:
Option One - Take games across the border to play in England. Costs increase due to ground sharing and we lose significant match-day revenue including bar, catering, hospitality boxes, Match and ball sponsor, sale of club merchandise and car parking income.
Option Two - Start the season playing behind closed doors. There is no match-day income generated that our business model needs, our anticipated and current financial reserves that we have already ‘ring-fenced’ to pay the playing budget would run out in late November with no fans in the ground. This would put the club in a position where we would inevitably be eventually trading insolvently and we could not allow that to happen.
Option Three – Request a ‘suspension’ to the season subject to an agreement that the club retains its place in the Southern League Premier Division. There is already precedent for this course of action with Guernsey and the Isle of Man being allowed to ‘hibernate’ for a season. In order to achieve any chance of obtaining approval the request had to be made on the Friday morning, to ensure that all of the necessary steps could be taken.
The club has been advised that the National Game Board will not penalise any clubs due to the pandemic and we would also be able to retain our place in next season`s FA Cup, due to the unprecedented circumstances that we currently face.
The Board fully appreciated the fact that it was an extremely difficult situation to request a suspension from the league on the very eve of the season, but they were advised that this option would not have been open to them if they had actually started the season.
Given the pressing timescales, the Board of Directors unfortunately had insufficient time to consult with all owners. However, on Thursday Board members carried out a representative sample telephone survey of the members whose contact details they had, in order to canvas a consensus of opinions. This resulted in a poll with 77% favouring suspension as the least-worse option.
The Board did consider releasing a holding statement. However, it was felt that this full factual statement would be preferable to the membership.
This suspension only involves the 'football side' of the club and all of the community elements including hire of the 3G pitch and the hospitality section will continue to operate as normal.
The club will also have to forfeit the Emirates FA Cup tie against Poole Town tomorrow night.
In closing, the Board would like to reiterate just how difficult it was making this decision in these unprecedented times. The Board’s intention was to only act with best interests in terms of the preservation and long-term viability of the club.
Merthyr Town FC
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