On Wednesday evening I optimistically updated the postponed fixtures on our ticketing website which been rearranged due to the recent lockdown ending on 2nd December.

The Isthmian League have planned the matches to restart on Saturday 19th December to allow clubs chance to get match fit and at the same time gave clubs opportunity to bring matches forward if they could agree to do so with their opponents. We are currently scheduled to be at Haywards Heath on 19th December and then at home on the 26th against Faversham Town. We had a friendly planned for Tuesday 8th at home. All of the fixtures are on our website now.

The FA also rescheduled their FA Trophy and FA Vase matches into a condensed period from the 5th and FA Cup Matches continue from tonight.

Now for the tears.

The Government today announced which of the three Tiers the local areas will be put into when lockdown ends and the new style lockdown begins on Tuesday. Unfortunately for us, we have, as you will no doubt know by now, been placed in Tier 3 - the toughest one.

The restrictions in this Tier 3 have thrown Non-Elite Non-League football into confusion and as yet we do not have any definite answers to the many questions such as:-

Will spectators be allowed to attend matches in Tier 3?
Will capacity be the same as before, or will it be individual ground capacity and new Tier dependent?
Will a Tier 3 team be allowed to play in a Tier 2 area or the other way round?
Will a player living in Tier 2 area, be allowed to travel to a Tier 3 area?
How far will takeaway beers have to be taken, or are Clubhouses closed? (I think we know that one to be fair!)
What will happen if matches have to be behind closed doors.
Will the NLS be unified or each area act independently?

So the answers to what is going on will come out in the next few days. The FA have said they continue to talk to the DCMS, the Isthmian League have said they will continue to talk the FA, as have the County FAs. We have had no direct communications as yet.

However, I think we may hear from Step 5 and 6 leagues pretty soon as they seem to be meeting tonight. The Isthmian League have stated from the beginning that matches would not be played behind closed doors because of the financial implications, so what happens if Tier 2 can play with supporters and Tier 3 can't is anyone's guess.

Our Sussex counterparts are in Tier 2 and are confidently announcing matches and we would love to be able to do the same, but for the time being there is too much uncertainty for us, but you will be kept informed.

Update: 27.11.2020
At Isthmian League level, clubs in Tiers 1 & 2 Restrictions will be allowed to accept spectators up to a 400 capacity as before Lockdown 2. However, clubs in Tiers 3 will have to be played behind closed doors.

We await a further update from the Isthmian League in regards to this development.