National League crisis drags on: South and North divisions halted

The league's board has agreed to halt fixtures for the south and north divisions after a number of clubs said they were not happy playing on following news that loans are set to replace grants to cover their costs for the next three months.

It has been a chaotic week for the league and its clubs, with uproar following the government announcement earlier in the week that funding to allow the league to play on during the second half of the season would be loaned to clubs, not granted to them as in the first three months of the season.

Slough Town - who were due to visit Eastbourne Borough this weekend - said they did not want to play on, but on Thursday night Eastbourne Borough reported that the league said the game was on.

But now it seems clubs who were reluctant to play on and incur further costs without knowing how they'd be covered have got their way.

Eastbourne confirmed the Slough game was off.

A National League statement said: "Following the review of the feedback from Clubs in connection to the recent Clubs meeting, a Board meeting this morning decided to halt the participation in the North/South Divisions for a two-week period, effective immediately. As a result, tomorrow's (Sat Jan 23) games are formally postponed."

On Saturday well-connected non-league reporter Ollie Bayliss said on Twitter: "The National League will ‘continue to challenge the position on what it believes was the original intimation on grants’. The DCMS says ‘it’s untrue that funding was promised as all grants’. At present, clubs will be offered support on the same basis as those from other sports."

Eastbourne Borough said on Thursday that despite financial uncertainties they were aware many other teams would love the chance to be playing and they felt their role in the community meant they should play on if they could. That has now been taken out of their hands.