When will football return to the Broadfield? - Crawley Town opinion

A big problem when trying to write a weekly column during a crisis is the ever-changing nature of things.
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The spread of the coronavirus has been remarkably quick and the guidance and restrictions have changed daily. Now football in the UK has been suspended until 30th April at the earliest and that date is after the current season was scheduled to end.

The present fixture list can be thrown away as the football authorities decide how they will proceed when circumstances allow. Several alternatives have been proposed, each with their own pros and cons, but there does now seem to be a general consensus that the 2019/20 season should be completed.

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SEE ALSO Coronovirus in football: Could teams be banned from playing until this time next year? | England boss Southgate: Forget football - let's support each other and beat coronavirus | Another month off for Brighton and Crawley as football is called off until April 30 - but season can go beyond start of JuneParamount in promoting this course of action is the understanding that whatever alternative was proposed would lead to both winners and losers and that the losers would be mightily miffed if, for example, they were relegated whilst they had games in hand. Aston Villa is an obvious example of this.

Geoff ThorntonGeoff Thornton
Geoff Thornton

Any compromise would be unlikely to affect Crawley Town adversely given their midtable position in League Two but I am sure the club would relish picking up the cudgels again in late spring with the hope of recouping some lost revenue. I had been unsure with which suggestion I agreed but am now convinced that completion of the current season would be for the best.

The disruption is so great that compensating for it will really tax the minds of officialdom. There has to be significant change to get the ship back on an even keel and so it is logical that those changes should be made to the 2020/21 season. That would allow more time for some very difficult decisions to be taken.

I have to admit that I feel a great unease by the way the situation has been handled. Every new announcement seems to provoke more distress amongst the general public. It does appear to me that those in charge follow a diktat typified by “Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring” rather than one of “Keep Calm and Carry On”.

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Although I am not old enough to remember the “Blitz Spirit” I am of an age where the Government might decree I should be confined to barracks for three months. I would not be happy to become reliant on others when, at present, my opportunities to volunteer and assist others have increased.

Under the current circumstances no decisions are easy to make but I do feel that the older generation are probably wise enough to make the right choices for themselves. I could be wrong but I don’t expect there have been any virus related deaths amongst those who actually found a football match to watch ten days ago.

The first casualties would seem to be the sixty staff at Barnet FC who have lost their jobs due to the suspension of the season. They probably won’t be the last.