Cumberland FA

Grassroots Football Postponed

The FA issued a further update regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on football in England earlier tonight.

The FA issued a further update regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on football in England earlier this evening.  

"Following the Government’s announcement today, for people to avoid social contact and gatherings where possible, we are now advising that all grassroots football in England is postponed for the foreseeable future.

Throughout this period, we have taken Government advice with the priority being the health and wellbeing of all. We will continue to work closely with the grassroots game during this time.

We are in regular communication with the Government and the situation within English football at all levels remains under regular review. Further updates will follow as needed".

PLEASE NOTE: This postponement will impact all matches and football activities including friendlies, training and for now festivals/tournaments (within the time frame of postponement).   

In terms of the impact upon Cumberland FA and its operations: 

County Cups and Leagues 

As a direct result of the guidance all CFA County Cup Competitions have been suspended.  

We will also have to postpone all CFA Leagues including the planned start of the Women’s, Veterans, Ability Counts and the Work Social League. 

Education Courses and Programmes 

All Cumberland FA Education courses and Football Development activities will also be suspended until further notice.  

Dates for courses currently being delivered will be re-arranged for a later date. Any courses due to start will be cancelled and re-scheduled.  Full refunds will be available if required or alternatively we can reallocate those booked on these courses to the new dates if suitable. 

 For any queries regarding education programmes please e-mail James.Reid@CumberlandFA.com or to request a refund please e-mail FootballServices@CumberlandFA.com

We are aware that this may mean that some coaches qualifications run out during this period and we will work with those clubs where this is the case when we know more around how long this postponement is going to be in place for. 

Charter Standard Festival 2020 

This has been cancelled due to the uncertainty of the postponement and also the likelihood that leagues and competitions may need to extend their season. 

Discipline 

Any outstanding discipline cases, fines and sanctions will remain in place and should be responded to/paid in line with the due by dates.

Matches due to be served will also remain as unserved until the leagues hopefully restart. 

However we are aware that the suspension of teams and individuals is of little threat to them at this stage.  But any suspensions (club/team or individual) that arise during this time will remain in place until settled.  We will contact any clubs that this involves when we know what is happening with regards to a start date.  

Please note that for misconduct charges we will continue to complete hearings via web/ex telephone etc for all correspondence hearings. 

Clubs and individuals are still entitled to personal hearings however these will be postponed until further notice (given the current postponement of all football, the delay of any hearing and potential suspension is obviously inconsequential). 

CFA Office and Staff    

Cumberland FA office will close with immediate effect to all visitors. 

All non-essential meetings planned will be cancelled or re-arranged to be made via an online medium, so if you were due to meet a member of staff then please ensure that you speak with them. 

Staff will be asked to mainly work from home.   All staff will be contactable via e-mail, Office phone line (01900 511 800) and mobiles. 

Staff Contact Details

We are currently in the process of updating our phone system so some details may change in the next few days. 

And Finally…..a word from our CEO Ben Snowdon 

This situation is obviously an everchanging environment and therefore as a County FA we will continue to monitor and react to guidance from the government, health authorities and National FA with regards to any future action around the grassroots game and update you accordingly. 

On behalf of all involved with Cumberland FA I would like to wish all of you and your families the very best wishes and good health for what, for a lot of people, may be a challenging and difficult time. 

I hope that all of this is an overreaction, which we have been told on a number of occasions recently.  And clearly we would rather that this were the case, as this is certainly a better outcome than a conclusion where we have to ask if we did enough or could have done more.   

As Jürgen Klopp said so eloquently in his letter to Liverpool fans at the weekend.  “Football always seems the most important of the least important things”, but “if it’s a choice between football and the good of the wider society, it’s no contest”.  

 Statement: Monday 16 March 2020

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