Please see the below FA Statement regarding Covid-19 and football, and Northumberland FA’s advice in regard to this statement which has been sent to all leagues, following yesterday’s updated Government and Public Health England guidance.

FA announcement: see below

The FA, Premier League, EFL and FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship have collectively agreed to postpone the professional game in England until 3 April at the earliest. This action, which will be kept under constant review, has been taken due to the increasing numbers of clubs taking steps to isolate their players and staff because of the Covid-19 virus.  It will also apply to all England team fixtures at every level and all FA competitions including the FA Cup and the Women’s FA Cup, along with academy and youth-team matches.

 The decision is being made purely on the number of cases requiring self-isolation and the impact on facilities. Given the steps being taken across clubs, there is no alternative but for today’s action.  However, all parties are committed at this time to trying to complete this season’s domestic fixture programme and are liaising to establish appropriate options to do so. The FA is liaising with the National League pyramids (men’s and women’s) and will continue to offer guidance and support.

Any decision to continue playing or to postpone their respective competitions is a matter for each league as autonomous bodies within the game.  

With respect to the senior men’s fixtures against Italy and Denmark at Wembley Stadium, refunds will be processed to all ticket buyers within 14 working days.  Monies will be returned to the card used to make the original booking. The refund process for England’s MU21 and MU20 home fixtures is still to be confirmed. UEFA had already confirmed that all Elite Round qualifiers across U17 and U19 age groups had been postponed. Europe’s governing body will meet on Tuesday to discuss further implications for international football including national-team and club competitions. We will continue to monitor all Government advice with the situation under constant review, with the priority being the health and well-being of all. 

Further updates will follow in due course. The FA, Premier League, EFL and FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship have collectively agreed to postpone the professional game in England until 3 April at the earliest.  This action, which will be kept under constant review, has been taken due to the increasing numbers of clubs taking steps to isolate their players and staff because of the Covid-19 virus.  It will also apply to all England team fixtures at every level and all FA competitions including the FA Cup and the Women’s FA Cup, along with academy and youth-team matches. The decision is being made purely on the number of cases requiring self-isolation and the impact on facilities.

Given the steps being taken across clubs, there is no alternative but for today’s action.  However, all parties are committed at this time to trying to complete this season’s domestic fixture programme and are liaising to establish appropriate options to do so. The FA is liaising with the National League pyramids (men’s and women’s) and will continue to offer guidance and support. Any decision to continue playing or to postpone their respective competitions is a matter for each league as autonomous bodies within the game.  

With respect to the senior men’s fixtures against Italy and Denmark at Wembley Stadium, refunds will be processed to all ticket buyers within 14 working days.  Monies will be returned to the card used to make the original booking. The refund process for England’s MU21 and MU20 home fixtures is still to be confirmed. UEFA had already confirmed that all Elite Round qualifiers across U17 and U19 age groups had been postponed. Europe’s governing body will meet on Tuesday to discuss further implications for international football including national-team and club competitions. We will continue to monitor all Government advice with the situation under constant review, with the priority being the health and well-being of all.  Further updates will follow in due course.

Additional Northumberland FA advice:

Following yesterday’s updated Government advice, and the above FA statement, Northumberland FA are producing the below advice to leagues and their clubs to support them and ensuring that all participants of football are kept as safe as possible within government guidelines.

All clubs and their members should follow public health advice and NHS guidance.

Any team who are unable to fulfil a fixture due to coaches, players, guardians required to provide care/transport for players, and/or other club officials required to be in attendance of fixtures for games to be held, because of self-isolation due to Covid-19 should be able to postpone the fixture following their usual league, or County, procedure without charge. In relation to players, this means if a team is unable to field a team due to a number of players self-isolating. The same also applies to Match Officials.

As the new Public Health England policy is not to test possible patients unless they are hospitalised, it is not reasonable or possible to request proof of this being the case. Therefore we must entrust the football community to act in good faith, the interest of public health, and the spirit of the game.

However, currently, decisions regarding fixture postponements due to the Covid-19 Pandemic are down to individual respective league management committee decision.

Current Government advice does not state that grassroots sport should stop, but we are supporting leagues who have today made the decision to postpone fixtures or otherwise.

Within the county some leagues have made the decision to postpone all football and some are currently are still accommodating matches, therefore clubs and coaches should check whether the status of their individual fixtures.

We hope all your club members are healthy and well, and will be able to continue their football as usual this weekend and in future weeks. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and react to Government and Public Health England advice and communicate updates, guidance and instructions as required.