Season 2009/10
Although the Representative Match Schedule for Season 2009-2010 was all agreed, dated and arranged by the end of June, it was subsequently decimated by the inclement weather that we experienced in the South of England.
Representative Football wasn’t the only casualty, as many of our member leagues also had disruption to their league fixtures. This in turn led to cup competitions falling behind schedule and in some cases, this resulted in their cancellation.
At the SCFA Representative Match & Competitions Meeting in January, and with dialogue already having been ongoing with leagues and competitions, it was suggested that we review the season so far, with particular regard to our own involvement.
With so many games already having been postponed, the Representative schedule showed that we had more games to play, than we had actually played. For the U16 & U18 teams in particular this was a major problem, as the SCFA cup competitions as well as the club’s own league fixtures, were also falling behind schedule and the same players were involved on all three fronts.
In the Women’s Competition, we were due to play six games in total and with only two having been played, and no dates agreed for the remaining fixtures, this was also proving to be a problem as the players were having to play midweek for their clubs, which prevented them from being available for selection for the SCFA fixtures.
In the Senior Competition things were looking better, as having started the games earlier in the season, there was only the one away fixture remaining.
Having taken all of the above into consideration, it was reluctantly agreed that we would have to suspend representative football at U16, U18 and Women’s level. However, it was decided to play the seniors remaining fixture at the Army to show our support for the Armed Forces at this time, and also taking that a forfeit would affect the outcome of the competition.
The decision was also taken to terminate a number of our own SCFA Cup Competitions, as they were so far behind schedule and that by continuing with them, it would only be to the detriment of our member Leagues.