IT HAS been a frustrating couple of years for Campion AFC, both on and off the field.

Like all of Bradford’s non-league sides, they had to suffer two badly-affected campaigns due to Covid.

But unlike the others, they were forced into a rather inconvenient sideways step from Division One of the NCEL to the NWCFL First Division North ahead of the current 2021/22 season.

The former is virtually solely concentrated on Yorkshire clubs, but the latter has a much wider span, with clubs in there from Merseyside, Manchester and Cumbria.

There are a couple of gentle trips for the Red and Blacks in that division, like Steeton and Ilkley Town, but by and large, travel has increased for them by a considerable margin.

Joint-manager Lee Ashforth told the T&A last month: “A lot of our planning for next season is going to depend on how the leagues are structured, because we don’t know if we’ll still be in the North West Counties for 2022/23.

“We need an early call on that, because we didn’t get much notice when we were moved over from the NCEL this year, and that made things difficult for us, in terms of things like some players not wanting to commit to the extra travel.”

And that last point caused Ashforth and his fellow joint-manager James Bicknell no end of trouble early on in the season.

In July, the former said: “Within the last month, three or four lads have left, with us moving across to the North West Counties League maybe putting them off.”

In September, once the season had got underway, he added: “It took us a little while to settle down in this league and it took us a while to get the squad to where we wanted it to be.

“We had to move a couple of players on from through their own choice at the start of the campaign and we felt we needed to bring in new additions, which we did.”

Campion are not out of relegation danger yet, nor are Steeton or Ilkley, though all three will expect to stay up given the points buffer to the relegation zone (seven for the Red and Blacks, six for the other two).

But here’s the thing, what is the relegation zone? As yet, the bottom three at that level (Step 6) are only ‘liable’ to go down, but it will depend on which sides are eligible to go up or want to go up from grassroots level (Step 7).

Ilkley and Steeton have both gone up from grassroots in that way over the last few years, but surely promotion and relegation needs to be more definitive in that case.

As Ashforth mentioned above, how can clubs plan for the upcoming season, when they have no idea what is happening regarding structuring?

And pity poor Eccleshill United, who look almost certain to finish in the top two of the NCEL Premier Division alongside Grimsby Borough.

The problem is, second might be enough to go up, but it might not.

Silsden boss Danny Forrest confirmed to me a couple of weeks ago that there are 17 divisions at that level (Step 5), and while the league winners will go up automatically, only the top 10 second-placed teams (in terms of points scored) can join them.

Even then, they would have to win in a one-leg play-off at a third or fourth bottom Step 4 side to go up.

It just can’t help but feel like a structural failure when you have to have such a complex and awkward system to get promoted, rather than just the top two just going up automatically.

Rugby union is also about to undergo its long-awaited restructure at community level, which bizarrely means relegation, but not promotion, has been taken off the table.

Bradford & Bingley are almost certain to finish rock-bottom of North One East this season, currently sitting on -3 points after an 82-0 defeat to Malton & Norton last Saturday, but they are going nowhere.

Head coach Hugh Gumbs is unsure whether his team staying put will be good for them, telling me last month: “Sometimes it can be good to go down.

“It can make you stronger, and can effectively mean you end up playing at a level the club is comfortable with.

“You have to work out what level you need to be at, both from a playing side and financially.

“I look at the example of my old club Pontefract. They had to go down to find their feet again really, but now they’re looking good to potentially come up from Yorkshire One, with a real focus on local players, and they’re stronger for it.”

At the other end of the scale, current Yorkshire Two leaders Keighley are not exactly sure how many sides will be going up, meaning head coach Dan McGee is in the slightly farcical situation of wanting to ensure his team stay top, so they can be sure they definitely have a spot in Yorkshire One for next season.

Restructures, promotions and relegations are rarely ever done in bad faith, and are usually an attempt to improve a flawed system.

But with more than one Bradford District team, in more than one sport, currently in a state of flux about where exactly they will end up in the 2022/23 season, surely that should raise alarm?

It’s time to give our teams a bit more clarity on what is going on for next term, or else they will keep plodding along without knowing where they will end up.