To: All Club Secretaries

Cc: Officers and Management Committee


League Rule 10 (F) Postponement of Matches

During the period September - December last year when problems arose with the central system of referee allocations, the Management Committee agreed to grant a temporary concession whereby clubs that wished to postpone a fixture because no official referee was available would be allowed to do so without being penalised under League Rule 10(F).

After the meeting with the Wilts FA on the 18th December clubs were informed that control of referee appointments had reverted to the League and that as from the 1st January 2008 the old system of referee appointments would be restored.

Since this date the Management Committee has continued its policy of automatically imposing a £40 fine and deducting one point for all postponements other than those matches called off by a referee or groundsman due to adverse weather conditions.

Clubs are therefore reminded that League Rule 10(F) will continue to be rigorously enforced for the remainder of the season.

It was originally hoped that it would be possible to appoint official referees to all our matches for the remainder of the season, but with the resignation of two referees from our list due the abuse they received from certain players and managers, it may well be that some games will now be without an official referee.

If this does happen and you are informed by the Referees’ Secretary that no official referee is available, League Rule 13(B) is quite explicit and requires both teams to agree on a stand-in referee and to ensure that the game is played.