Not quite the big kick-off

In what has to be the most subdued start to a football season in living memory, Newtown will launch their JD Cymru Premier season on Saturday behind closed doors in North Wales.

Wales’s top tier of football has been classed as ‘elite’ in order to get underway, but it is still a waiting game for the rest of the region’s football teams as the Covid frustration stretches into Autumn.

Clubs have been back to training for weeks, but sadly the authorities are refusing to be drawn into a date for grass roots football to resume.

Some football is better than no football, but Newtown’s opener at Flint Town United will not have a single spectator as regulations only allow the minimum of essential staff to be present inside the ground.

The going is getting tougher financially too for local clubs with Newtown Football Club chairman Howard Ellis previously saying that each home fixture without supporters loses his club a minimum of £4,000.

An FAW spokesperson said: "The FAW is in constant dialogue with the Welsh Government over the safe return of football and continues to work within the guidelines and regulations in order to ensure the health and safety of all.

“These are unprecedented times and the FAW is working hard towards the safe return of the game in Wales.”