There’s some merit in ‘sporting merit’ rule for every league - Stuart Rayner

UEFA was only talking about the top end of its top divisions when it rolled out its mantra of “sporting merit” this week.
Promotion and relegation issues still to be decided.Promotion and relegation issues still to be decided.
Promotion and relegation issues still to be decided.

Sheffield United’s European fate will be decided on whether they deserve to play Continental football next season. With Europe’s biggest clubs increasingly trying to fix Champions League qualification around who you are, not what you are doing, it was not a given.

At times, football has looked for one-size-fits-all solutions to the coronavirus pandemic when the issues are too complicated and effects too wide-ranging. But the idea of “sporting merit” should apply across the board.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With hindsight, it would be nice to already have rules for when a season is abandoned, removing self-interests. As it is, we are left with clubs looking after number one.

More of those battles may be looming at the top level, but they are already here in non-league.

This week, the National League – the Conference Premier, North and South – accepted defeat and ended the season. Ending the spectre of having to continue paying players until 2019-20 finally ended was the easy bit. Deciding what to do next is much harder.

Some Leagues One and Two clubs fear they might have to go down the same route, although it did not help that when Mansfield Town’s John Radford wrote to the league with what he stressed were not demands, but which looked a lot like them, only 37 of the 47 clubs signed his letter.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Some people are holding onto the fact Germany’s Bundesliga is gearing up for a May return. If Britain’s infection rates, contact tracing and testing were on a par with Germany we could take some comfort – although not too much because it is still no more than a hope.

In setting out what will happen if leagues cannot be completed – and the Premier League and Football League still hope theirs will be – UEFA’s main concern was that the fair thing be seen to be done.

If we were five matches into the season, that would be a doddle but 34 out of 42 – 81 per cent – as Conference North leaders York City have played? Second-placed King’s Lynn Town have only played 32, and on points-per-game, would be top. Either way, they would be the two candidates for next season’s Conference. Harrogate Town would be second on points-per-game in the Conference, which also has two promotion spots.

York are pushing for promotions to be “honoured”. A decision is expected this week.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Unfortunately, the nature of sport is you cannot have winners without losers. Bradford Park Avenue are bottom of Conference North, 12 points adrift of Kettering Town from two games more. Barnsley are bottom of the Championship.

With some clubs, sadly, destined not to survive this crisis, plenty could be spared relegation anyway.

If only UEFA, who issued “strong” but still vague recommendations this week, were brave enough to define “sporting merit” more clearly?

Rules on what stage a division cannot be voided, and how final placings, promotions and relegations are decided if we come to an abrupt halt would be handy. We keep using the word “unprecedented”, but what if we have to end the season again, as we did in 1914 and 1939? What if some environmental disaster or another pandemic hits?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A bit of one-size-fits-all would not go amiss in that respect.

Editor’s note: First and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you. James Mitchinson, Editor

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.