THE Toolstation Northern Counties East League have announced several urgent measures, with the aim of helping their forty member clubs financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their two divisions include six Bradford District clubs. These are: Thackley, Eccleshill United, Liversedge, Albion Sports, Silsden and Campion.

The measures introduced by the NCEL have been approved by the competition's Board and mean that each club will benefit by an average of £909.

For season 2020/21:

  • Clubs will NOT be charged an Annual Subscription (Overall cost: £15,200);
  • The League will supply each club with a box of sixteen free footballs (Overall cost: £12,800);
  • Clubs will NOT be charged the annual £50 fee for matchday inspections (Overall cost: £2,000);
  • Player registration fees for the expunged 2019/20 season will NOT be charged, an average saving per club of £159 (Overall cost: £6,378).

The total sum of these measures is £36,378 and it has been made possible to implement thanks to the continuing support of the league's sponsor, Toolstation.

Meanwhile, it has also been announced that the AGM/Presentation Dinner due to take place at the Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate in June has been cancelled.

Clubs who have paid for their dinner tickets will be reimbursed in the next few days.

Once it is possible to do so, a new date and venue for the AGM will be confirmed. Next season's AGM/Dinner has been booked at the same venue for Saturday, June 12, 2021.

This season's League Cup Final was due to be played at Doncaster Rovers' Keepmoat Stadium.

As a result of the season being expunged, that has now been cancelled, but there is an agreement to play the 2021 final there, with a date to be agreed.

Finally, it has been confirmed that this summer's Toolstation Cup match - a pre-season charity game between clubs from the NCEL and the Western League - has been mothballed for this year.