Northern League confirm season extension request as Boldon CA launch appeal

The Ebac Northern League have confirmed they have written to the Football Association to request an extension to their season.

As it stands, the regular season fixtures are set to be finalised on April 20 and play-off fixtures across both divisions can be completed by Monday, May 6. However, the inclement weather that has battered the North East for the last three months have left clubs facing a serious backlog and left the league with ‘serious concerns about the ability of some clubs to complete their fixtures’.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s games, the world’s second oldest football league confirmed there were still 322 fixtures to take place between now and the current scheduled end of the season and revealed that means only 60 percent of games have taken place with three quarters of the season behind them.

League chairman Glenn Youngman said: “We have serious concerns about the ability of some of our clubs to complete their league matches, with a significant number of clubs already 8-10 weeks behind schedule at this stage of the season.”

Boldon CA and Jarrow have been two of the worst hit clubs in recent months and, as it stands, the South Tyneside rivals both have 20 games remaining during the final two months of the season. Such is the impact on their Perth Green ground, Jarrow have not played a home game since they were beaten by Billingham Synthonia in the middle of October.

Boldon have managed five home games in the same period but have played just three times since the turn of the year. Manager Gary Henry has launched an appeal for volunteers to get their pitch into a manageable state as his side prepare for a hectic end to the season.

He told The Gazette: “With no groundsman at Boldon, the pitch is looking tired when you get on it. Due to the amount of bad weather, we had what looked like a lake on it last week, which has since cleared, but the pitch is still not in a great place. If anyone has retired or has some time on their hands and likes to garden or keep their lawn in good shape, we have the perfect opportunity for them on a bigger scale. They just get in touch with us because we will be glad of any help to get some games on.”