Local sports correspondent, Ian Nockolds, has been speaking to the Chair of the Western League, John Pool, last week for the Toolstation Western League Podcast. Readers can also listen to the interview at: http://toolstationleague.com/podcasts A big thank you to Ian for sharing this with us whilst we wait for play to resume.

Ian Nockolds: “I’m delighted to welcome back to the Toolstation Western League Podcast, the Chairman of the Western League, Mr John Pool. John. The FA have published their response to the Prime Minister’s announcement of a second national lockdown – what does that mean for the League?”

John Pool: “Pretty much everybody expected it. We did have our suspicions that maybe there wouldn’t be a re-start date, but that appears not to be the case. So, looking to 2nd December, everything is being scheduled for a re-start, which will probably be Saturday, 5th. Whether this is the first of other lockdowns, or suspensions of football, only time will tell. I think that all of the leagues would be making the continued efforts to try to keep the game going, and in fairness to the FA, I think that is their objective as well.”

IN: “We have just had the first round of the FA Vase, the second round was scheduled for the end of November, which will still be in lockdown. Have we got a feeling for when clubs in that competition might get an opportunity to play again?”

JP: “No, and to be honest with you, it’s not anything that they have covered in this statement. Right from the onset, they did make a declaration that they wanted to complete last season’s FA Vase – I have not heard more about what their intention is with that. With regards to this year’s competition, until I actually looked at the draw, I did not realise that it had no ‘play-by’ date. I would imagine that what they are probably doing is allowing the leagues to re-jig the fixtures from that commencement date, and then they will be looking at trying to fit in-and-around the FA Vase dates. A lot of the clubs are looking at twenty-eight to thirty games that have to be fitted in. There is going to be a lot of pressure applied to get these games played.”

IN: “Do you think that May 15th is still the target end date, or do you think that this month-long stoppage, given the problems we had starting this season, do you think that the FA may be looking to delay that a little bit?”

JP: “This is a personal view I am giving you now, not one that is necessarily shared by the league – I think that as soon as you start talking about extending the season, then inevitably everyone will start pushing along the fixtures accordingly. I think at the moment their intention would be to get it started again and hope that there isn’t another lockdown, leave the 15th sitting there, which is still just about doable. It’s not just the Covid scenario, if we hit bad weather then that is going to throw a lot of things into question – I don’t think they are going to have any choice then but to extend it to at least another two weeks.”

IN: “For you, on a day-to-day basis, what is communication with the FA like?”

JP: “The FA have probably been more transparent and a lot easier in communicating than they have been for some considerable time. That may not be a view that is shared by a lot, but I think things have improved. I’m sorry there isn’t more to offer, Ian, but it is difficult for all of us at the moment, and like you said, we are just trying to deal with what is in front of us. There are two key elements to this; one is trying to err on the side of safety all the time, but also trying to make sure that we can still keep playing football, because our understanding is that that is what everybody wants.”