North Caledonian League clubs have agreed to resume the season this Saturday.
A midweek meeting was called to discuss the topic as sports across the country decide whether to halt play due to rising numbers of Covid-19 cases.
At Scottish Premiership level, the winter break has been brought forward, while stadia in Scotland can only have crowds of up to 500 to reduce the risk of the disease spreading. This was set by the Scottish Government for at least a three-week spell, beginning on Boxing Day.
NORTH CALEDONIAN LEAGUE FIXTURES – 8.1.22
(SPONSORED BY MACLEOD & MACCALLUM)Orkney v Alness United (12.45 p.m)
Nairn County 'A' v Loch Ness
Golspie Sutherland v St.Duthus
Halkirk United v Invergordon
Bonar Bridge v ThursoAll 1 p.m kick-offs unless stated #NCFA #NorthCaley pic.twitter.com/DzwDDAFElm
— North Caledonian FA (@NorthCaleyFA) December 20, 2021
Yesterday, rugby clubs, including Highland, took up the option offered to them by the Scottish Rugby Union to postpone their weekend games without penalties.
The NCL returns this weekend after its winter shutdown, so the topic led to crunch talks on Wednesday and the mood was to play on.
Players can travel individually
Iain Whitehead, president of the North Caledonian FA, explained the feeling was not to pause the campaign at this point, with safety measures in place at all clubs.
He said: “The clubs decided to carry on. There probably will be players missing, through isolating and such, but overall clubs are happy to play the games if they can.
“There were one or two individuals within clubs who felt we should pause the season, but most players are wanting to continue.
“The protocols are there for individual clubs with regards to travelling and the like. If any player has a concern, they can jump in their car to travel to games on their own. That’s what we did previously.
“I’m sure the weather will also have an impact in the fixtures in the coming weeks anyway.
“We will take it week by week and see how we go. If we do fall behind in fixtures, we have a few weeks’ leeway, so we should be fine. We are used to losing fixtures at this time of the year in any case.”
Last season the NCL opted to cut down on the games played by finishing the campaign early and splitting the divisions in two.
League leaders Loch Ness are away to Nairn County this Saturday, with nearest chasers Golspie Sutherland and Invergordon facing St Duthus and Halkirk United respectively.
Elsewhere, Orkney host Alness United and Thurso travel to Bonar Bridge.
