Reply With QuoteNothing surprising re. Dover. They could have taken any number of options instead of chucking the toys out. A number of clubs that had nothing to play for let players go or played much weaker sides.
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Eleven National League clubs have lost their appeals against sanctions imposed on them for failing to fulfil fixtures last season due to Covid-19.
Dover Athletic, who had their results expunged after not playing beyond January, will be deducted 12 points next season and fined £40,000.
They were one of seven National League clubs who voted to end the season in February but the top tier continued.
Dover are yet to respond to the independent appeal board's decision.
Chairman Jim Parmenter, who placed all of Dover's staff and players on furlough in February to prevent the club becoming insolvent, has previously stated they will not pay the £40,000 fine.
The club has already decided to move from professional to semi-professional status, having not played a competitive fixture since 30 January.
The other 10 clubs, who all play in non-league Step Two - National League North or South - have each been fined £2,000 per breach of fixture and handed a suspended two-point deduction, also per breach.
Alfreton Town, Bath City, Bradford Park Avenue, Chippenham Town, Curzon Ashton, Darlington, Dulwich Hamlet, Kettering Town, Slough Town and Southport all had their appeals dismissed between 3 and 11 June.
Chippenham, Curzon Ashton, Dulwich Hamlet and Slough were fined £8,000 for four breaches each, Bradford Park Avenue £6,000, Alfreton and Bath £4,000 and Darlington, Kettering and Southport £2,000.
They and Dover have also been ordered to pay costs - between £1,200 and £1,600 per club - and their appeal fee of £250 will not be returned.
Three other Step Two clubs - Blyth Spartans, Farsley Celtic and Spennymoor Town - have had 50% of their fines (£6,000 for Blyth and £4,200 for Farsley and Spennymoor) suspended.
National League North and South were declared null and void in mid-February after the majority of clubs in both divisions voted against continuing amid lockdown.
Clubs in all three divisions began last season with the help of government grants, which helped cover additional expenses incurred due to the coronavirus pandemic up until December.
But further financial support for the rest of the season was only made available through low-interest loans with many clubs choosing not to take them up.
Last month, clubs rejected a proposed vote of no confidence against the National League board and chairman Brian Barwick.
Barwick will stand down when the season ends on Sunday after the National League promotion play-off final between Torquay United and Hartlepool United.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57484251
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Nothing surprising re. Dover. They could have taken any number of options instead of chucking the toys out. A number of clubs that had nothing to play for let players go or played much weaker sides.
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Everybody else in tier 5 managed to complete the season, including Kings Lynn. So what makes Dover so special is presumably that they are a very badly run club, or at least not run well enough to be able to cope with the demands of 5th tier football anymore. Therefore, they should no longer be playing at this level. Dover should have been relegated IMHO, but that would have required promoting somebody to make room for them in tier 6, for which there would be no fair solution, hence the points deduction which probably should have been more than 12 points.
The 6th tier clubs I have a degree of sympathy for, seeing that fulfilling those fixtures would have been for nothing, as it turned out, but we can't have clubs taking it upon themselves to effectively derail a league season when it suits them to do so. It wouldn't have been a coincidence that almost all of those hoping to carry on were in the top half and those desperate to stop the season were in the bottom half.
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To be fair they COULD have relegated Dover and promoted 2 teams. Top placed from the North and South.Originally Posted by upthemaggies
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They should have expelled Dover when they refused to play their games.
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The moderator wasn't strict enough.
Last edited by SwalePie; 15-06-2021 at 05:06 PM.
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Meaning?
Last edited by SwalePie; 15-06-2021 at 05:06 PM.
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Oh dear,
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See? It isn't just me
Last edited by SwalePie; 15-06-2021 at 05:07 PM.
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No balls!
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