Decisions of the Board on Return to Play – 04.02.2021

On 3rd December 2020, all football in Wales – including elite levels governed by the FAW – were suspended due to extremely high level of Covid infection in all parts of Wales.

A review in January confirmed the suspension would continue.

On 4th February, the FAW announced that ALL Mens football below Tier 4 and all Womens football below Tier 2 would be cancelled for the remainder of season 2020-21. Please click on link for full announcement

The hope is that competitions in the higher tiers will commence when lockdown restrictions are eased

On 16th June, the FAW provided online training via a webinar to explain how referees can register for the coming season.

Registration will open on 22nd June – however, referees should wait for an e-mail from the FAW before trying to register.

The e-mails – which will include a link to the Comet site – will be sent out during the week commencing Monday 22nd June 2020.

If anyone missed the webinar or needs to revisit the content, you can find a full recording of the webinar here: https://youtu.be/FTZ-Zl33fZw

The following documents may also be useful

COMET Referee Training Webinar Presentation – June 2020 FAW COMET Referees Webinar 1 – Q&A Jun 2020

This webinar will help prepare referees for the 2020/21 season on the FAW COMET system and will cover the following topics:

•       Referee registration – renewals

•       Referee registration – new registrations

•       Updating your personal details and adding next of kin information

When: Tuesday Jun 16, 2020 06:30 PM

Topic: FAW COMET Referee Webinar 1

The webinar will be recorded and available to watch after the event for those who are unable to join at this time, or wish to watch the webinar again.

To join the webinar you will need to register in advance by clicking the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6o6KDmz9Rf2GZ_10TcftEA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

If you are unsure how to join a Zoom meeting, you can find a video guide here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-How-Do-I-Join-A-Meeting-

On Tuesday 19th May, the FAW announced the “curtailment” (i.e. ending) of the 2019-20 football season in Wales.

The original announcement confirmed that final league placings for ADULT leagues would be decided on a “Points Per Game” basis.  It has subsequently been confirmed that “Points Per Game” should also be used to decide Junior and Youth League placings.

I suspect no-one is surprised that the decision has been made to end the season in the current circumstances.  All we can hope now is that football can somehow get back to normal in time for the scheduled start of next season.

In the meantime, enjoy the break everybody and stay safe.

On 12th May, the FAW announced that that 2019/20 season for Mini, Junior, Youth and Academy football leagues would be curtailed (i.e. ended) with immediate effect.

There will be further meetings during the week beginning 18th May to discuss the proposed methods of finalising the leagues affected.  Presumably, the options under discussion will include a) declaring the season “void” and b) finalising league positions using a “points per game” calculation (or even a weighted “points per game” where the calculation differentiates between Home & Away fixtures).

On the 16th May, the FAW also announce that the current suspension of all other Leagues would be extended until 12th June 2020.

Speaking personally, I feel the longer the suspension goes on the less likely it is that the season will re-start.  Assuming clubs would require some form of “mini pre-season” to restore player fitness before 2019-20 fixtures could re-commence, it is difficult to see how any delay beyond 12th June will not have a knock-on effect to next season.