Non-league Dulwich Hamlet are suspending all football activity as the National League is set to make a decision on future fixtures amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite football being postponed in the Premier League and EFL over the weekend, the National League went ahead after following government advice.
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Dulwich Hamlet have suspended all football activity
As it stands, fixtures are due to be continued but National League South side Dulwich Hamlet decided to take matters into their own hands.
The South London club, who won 2-1 on Saturday in front of a crowd of 2,376, posted a statement on Monday saying they had suspended all footballing activity.
The statement read: “The club today puts forward a plan to suspend all games indefinitely for the safety of all. This action reflects the reality that all experts agree the situation will worsen and that it will not be possible for our Men’s team to complete the National League season before all player contracts come to an end and member clubs start going out of business.
“We have also notified London South East Regional Women’s Football League that our teams will not be playing until it is safe to do so. We hope that all football authorities start working to the reality things are likely to get worse before they get better.
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Dulwich Hamlet played in front of a crowd of 2,376 on Saturday
“Our plan for the immediate future is to work closely with The National League to try and ensure the long term survival of all 68 member clubs, as well as make our space and facilities available for community/organisational use in combating the Covid-19 outbreak.
“More information will follow, be kind to each other and look out for the vulnerable in our community. We’ll see you soon.”
The National League are due to make a decision later on Monday on whether to postpone fixtures, as reported by Leigh Curtis of the Nottingham Post.
There are scheduled to be 10 games played on Tuesday in the National League, National League North and National League South.
Billericay Town manager Jamie O’Hara believes the games played over the weekend should not have gone ahead – but he does not blame the league.
What is the Moose going to do without football? I’ll have to speak to the wife!
He told talkSPORT: “I genuinely think it’s a decision not to be made by the National League. It’s a decision that had to be made by Boris Johnson, and him not coming out and giving us leadership left everyone to deal with it themselves and take the responsibility themselves.
“For me, it was probably not the right decision for us to all be playing, because when you look at the other leagues above us and all the leagues below us are not playing and we are playing it didn’t seem right.
“I understand the pressure they’ve been under from the clubs who said, ‘if we don’t play it’s going to have massive financial implications’, but health and safety for the players and everyone around us, we have kit men and other people coming to the game that could be infected and really suffer so there has to be common sense there.”
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