Decision made on whether to continue Steps 5 and 6 of Non League football

Decision made on whether to continue Steps 5 and 6 of Non League football following a meeting which took place the majority of Tuesday.

The Step 5 and 6 seasons are to end immediately. The FA Leagues Committee will now decide between PPG promotion/relegation or complete Null and Void of the 2019/20 season.

A statement from the Essex Senior League read: “Following on from the pre-arranged Webex meeting today with the FA and our colleagues in Step 5 / 6 leagues, The FA have confirmed that the season 2019/20 must end immediately.

“The consensus was there is no option of any football being played for the rest of this season due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Even if the FA were to extend, it wasn’t going to be possible to complete remaining games, also subject to being allowed to socialise by May.

“The FA League Committee are to determine the terms of that conclusion which seems at present to be a 50:50 split between PPG promotion / relegation or complete Null and Void of the 2019/20 season.

“That decision is not the leagues to make but the FA Leagues Committee.

“Once a decision is conveyed to the Leagues it will be consistent across the NLS system – if null and void is the FA decision there will be NO promotion or relegation for 2019/20 season.”

Though an hour or so after posting this statement, the Essex Senior League has been removing their posts about the halting of the step 5/6 season. An email reportedly from the FA’s National League System Manager says “that is not the case at this stage”. Talk about confusion?!

There are 14 amateur divisions in each of step five and six: The Combined Counties League, Eastern Counties, Essex Senior, Hellenic , Midland, North West Counties, Northern Counties East, Northern, Southern Counties East, Spartan South Midlands, Southern Combination, United Counties, Wessex and Western Leagues.

Fans reacted as the decision was made on whether to continue Steps 5 and 6 of Non League football…

Chaos. They can’t move into the next season without the rest of the football pyramid.

— Noyz Boyz (@FIFCNoyzBoyz) March 24, 2020

But what about teams that have 6 games left with 4 being against the bottom 4 that they would most likely to win? The other teams around them still have to play 3 of the top 4? How would PPG be fair then?

— Michael Evans (@michael14evans) March 24, 2020

Looks like the Step 5/6 is over, with a decision whether it'll be void or based on Points-Per-Game to be announced shortly.

What do you think will happen?

Please RT once voted!

— The Bootiful Game (@TheBootifulGame) March 24, 2020

Fuck ??

— mark skelton (@Skelly2505) March 24, 2020

I doubt it we aren't even at the peak of the virus yet

— Callum⚽️ (@callumLtfc) March 24, 2020

They need to close the season off and declare the promotions and relegations. Base it on points per game for the remaining fixtures. Null and void will ruin some clubs.

— Alex Sethi (@bigsethi88) March 24, 2020

Null & void is never a good idea at this late stage.

— Jonny Alves (@JonnyLFC93) March 24, 2020