TREFELIN BGC could have been celebrating a second successive promotion in May but the Coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to that.
The promotion hopes of Trefelin Boys & Girls Club are up in the air as they await the FAW’s decision on the conclusion of the season.
Trefelin are far and above the rest in Division One of the Welsh League, with a 19-point gap over second-placed Port Talbot Town, having gone the whole league season unbeaten with ten games left to play.
But with Welsh football suspended by the Welsh football governing body since early March, Trefelin face an anxious wait on whether a prospective promotion will be rectified.
A decision on whether the season will continue is something that will have to be communicated soon. The latest update from the FAW on the 2019/2020 season was on April 24.
The man in the hot seat who may have been lifting the league title this month is against the idea of null-and-voiding the season.
“The option of null and void would simply reward teams who have had bad seasons,” said manager Richie Ryan.
“Whatever the decision is made by the FAW, I don’t think even our biggest rivals would deny us a place in the Cymru South.
“We’re currently unbeaten and won 17 out of 20 games this season, beating the teams who are in my opinion the 2nd and 3rd best in the league 7-2 and 6-1 respectively, away from home on both occasions, tells it’s own story.”
“A lot of time, effort and money has gone into ambitious clubs at all levels of the Welsh pyramid in order to achieve promotion and gain Tier One-Three status. To say the season never happened would be unthinkable and completely unfair.
“Ending the league with current league standings would be the second fairest option and something they have adopted in Belgium and France.”
Top divisions such as Holland’s Eredivisie and France’s Ligue One have been ended with Paris Saint Germain crowned champions whilst other affected teams such as Amiens have begun legal proceedings against the French governing body.
On the flip side, however, the Bundesliga will resume in the second half of May after being granted a return by the German government.
Despite other countries bringing an end to their campaigns, the former Aberaman Athletic striker is of the belief of restarting the season: “When it is safe to return to football, our absolute priority would be to finish the season that we were seven months into when COVID-19 brought a halt to proceedings.
“Why start another season before finishing the current campaign? Especially as we do not know if the next one would be able to proceed as planned in August.”
However, should amateur and semi-professional football not resume in Wales, then deciding the season on a points-per-game basis would be the fairest option insists Ryan.
“When this possibility has been exhausted and it is impossible to play out the remaining games, the fairest option would be on a points-per-game basis,” stated the Trefelin boss.
“I’ve seen the projected tables on a PPG basis, they are very similar to the current league standings and are a fair reflection of your success for 80% of the season.”
There is some good news for Trefelin to celebrate as they made one step closer to achieving their goal of a second promotion.
The Port Talbot based club were granted the Tier Two licence by the FAW on May 7, with now only on the decision of on-the-field field matters to wait on.
Their application was boosted by the announcement that community club Taibach Community FC will amalgamate with Trefelin, bringing more than 100+ children to the club’s youth structure.
“The work that has gone into Tier Two application has been phenomenal. The process has been led by the chairman Steve Green and our General Manager Chris Latham.
“I don’t think a day has gone by where they haven’t been active up the ground or on the computer dealing with the paperwork element of the process.
“The growing list of committee members have been a complete revelation and their contributions haven’t gone unnoticed, especially through these difficult times.
“With the recent merger of our junior section with Taibach, an extra 100+ children will join what is fast emerging as the most progressive club in the area.”
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