To void or not to void? That is the question the Football Association are interested in non-league Clubs answering. The FA have decided to push the biggest question in non-league football - what to do with the 2020/21 season, back to the army of volunteers that run the grassroots game.

Clubs at the Western League level of the non-league pyramid and above, will soon receive a survey from the FA asking for views that they “can consider to assist us making our recommendation to FA Council as to how we conclude the season”. This is not a referendum, it is a consultation. There is no vote, only an opportunity to “gather views”.

On the face of it, the FA have learnt one lesson from the decision to void the 2019/20 season. At that time, no such consultation with Clubs was undertaken, prompting an unsuccessful legal challenge. Yet that seems to be the only lesson learnt. Last season was sacrificed so that the 2020/21 season could start as normal. Yet here we are again.

With the benefit of hindsight its easy to be critical of the decision to void, but what is truly unforgiveable is the fact that the FA made no provision in their rules for how the 2020/21 season would be concluded, if Covid reared its ugly head again. What was unprecedented in March last year, set a precedent that many in the game argued the FA needed to consider going into this season, yet the game’s governing body chose not to do so.

A genuine consultation should have been undertaken before a ball had been kicked, when inevitable self-interest would have been at its lowest. A consultation undertaken now simply leaves the outcome at the mercy of the League table. By definition, most Clubs in football have little to play for by now, whether they’ve completed 10% or 30% of their season. The vast majority won’t be fighting for promotion, rather, they may fear a poor run of form could leave them in danger of relegation. Faced with such a question it is inevitable that the overwhelming answer to the FA survey will be to void the current season.

Yet is such a decision really in the best interest of the game?

What is clearly not in the best interest of the game is to put players, volunteers and supporters at risk of contracting the virus. At a time of National lockdown, when the NHS is facing enormous pressure, it’s hard to argue that non-league football should continue. Indeed, it’s difficult to see any football being played until March, or even April.

The FA have indicated “that extending the season into June would not be feasible”. So why not postpone fixtures and restart the remaining matches at the traditional time in August, when the warmer weather and mass vaccination programme should give us a greater sense of optimism that the darkest days of this pandemic are behind us?

There appears to be little prospect of agreeing an adequate sporting solution to completing this season by June. A Points Per Game method is highly unlikely to carry support from Clubs, let alone a practical and uniform execution across the pyramid. The simplest option is to void this season and start again in 2021/22.

That was the decision taken last time, but with the benefit of hindsight we could have finished last season by May 2021, if the fixtures had been paused rather than voided in March 2020. In the Toolstation Western League Premier Division, 99% of matches would have been played by now, if the season had been suspended and the fixtures played from September had counted towards the final total. Indeed, eleven Clubs would have achieved the forty match target for completing last season by now. This example isn’t perfect, as the 20/21 fixture list didn’t pick up where last season left off, but it does give an indication of what could have been achieved and this insight is in danger of being lost in the FA’s decision-making process.

With the potential for more Covid variants, vaccination boosters and another Winter surge, not to mention the traditional bad weather, there is every chance next season could experience at least some of the challenges of this. Pausing the 2020/21 season at Steps 3 to 6 reduces the fixture pressure created by starting a new campaign. It makes no difference to promotion and relegation, as voiding another season would have meant they wouldn’t have taken place anyway. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Its benefits aren’t simply practical, but ethical. Why scrap a season that has started for the benefit of one that hasn’t? Now is the time to respect the sporting integrity of the competition that was started in September. Imagine an Olympic final where the competitors not in striking distance at the final corner decided to pull up and take an early shower?

The FA are in a difficult situation, acting one step behind a Government that changes its mind on an hourly basis. Yet they took the decision to start the 2020/21 season. They oversaw a risk assessment regime that enabled Steps 3 to 6 to welcome fans, even if “Elite” Leagues were only able to do so belatedly. These concessions were not without risk, yet their proposed process for concluding this current season can best be described as risk averse and at worse a fait accompli. They appear hell bent on not making a decision, for fear they will be held accountable for it!

The FA need to realise that the enemy is the virus. No matter how belligerent or self-interested football clubs and their supporters insist on being. Finishing the 2020/21 season is not a necessity, it’s a matter of principle. Why shouldn’t our National game, above all things, be our way of saying that we will not bend to the will of the virus. We will find a way to live our lives as normally as possible, no matter how long it takes. No one wants to see public health put at risk, so lets play again when our Clubs can welcome fans, when its safe to enjoy a pie and pint. To void one football season is unfortunate, but to void two is unforgivable. So let’s finish what we’ve started.

Marcus Brody