Having lost their first games of the season to a Coronavirus cancellation, Welton Rovers’ fans might well ask what happens if a second wave of the virus causes local lockdowns to suffocate the non-league fixture list?

The Football Association’s unprecedented decision to void the 2019/20 season in March has seemingly set a precedent, yet the procedures football might use to address this unfortunate situation, should it arise again, have not been published. If the unweighted Points Per Game system that was used to resolve the National League last season is to be rolled out across the rest of the non-league pyramid, then surely this is something Leagues, Clubs and fans should know before this season began.

As well as announcing when the new football season will start, the FA has also published an end date of no later than Saturday, 15th May 2021. On this occasion, it is more likely the planned restructuring of the National League System and the creation of the ‘pure pyramid’, which is the catalyst behind the mid-May date. Yet, these are not ‘normal’ times, so why would the FA put its own administrative niceties ahead of giving non-league football the best possible chance of completing the 2020/21 season?

In April, the FA published a statement explaining their decision to void the 2019/20 season at non-league and grassroots level. In it, Laurence Jones, the FA’s Head of the National League System, writes: “It is impossible to find a solution that works for everybody, so the decision was based on two main factors.

“Firstly, the potential financial impact on clubs during this uncertain period, and secondly, the fairest method on how to decide the sporting outcomes for the season, with the integrity of the leagues in mind.”

Football’s finances were notoriously precarious before Covid-19, so why not use this opportunity to talk to Clubs about their income and expenditure, rather than mandate them to play behind closed doors for the best part of a month?

How the FA proceed from this point will determine whether we are at beginning of the end of this crisis, or whether we have simply reached the end of the beginning. Marcus Brody