A bit of a shame, but no real surprise given everything that's going on this summer.
What I find more interesting in this article is the implication that we may not be able to play during the Paralympics. This is 29th August - 9th September, when the season will be properly underway. Could this mean we fall behind in terms of games played (possibly a disadvantage if we take our current form into the beginning of next season), or will they perhaps schedule us to play outside of London during this period? Or will it mean a more intensive period of midweek matches in late September or in the run up to Christmas? I guess we will have to wait and see, but this could have an impact on the London clubs.
My own gut feeling is that the Paralympics will have less spectators and lower policing requirements than the Olympics, and we should be able to play. The Met might see it differently, however...
Paralympics are even more tightly focused on Stratford, Greenwich and Woolwich, so the pressure will be on more especially as there are major events at Greenwich Park, the O2 and the Barracks right through to September 8th.
It has been flalgged up for a while now, so no surprise. Don't see that we will fall behind in games, but the League will have to schedule away matches for us and the other London teams. I suspect that in itself is going to be the real headache if every London club ends up travelling on the same day.
As for the paralympics, I believe it has already been announced that these are pretty much a sell out, so I guess the same applies for the period that they are on as well.
Pretty sure that I read that all London teams would play away matches until the paralympics were over EXCEPT for premiership clubs. For some bizarre reason they will be allowed to play at home ?????????????
Comments
What I find more interesting in this article is the implication that we may not be able to play during the Paralympics. This is 29th August - 9th September, when the season will be properly underway. Could this mean we fall behind in terms of games played (possibly a disadvantage if we take our current form into the beginning of next season), or will they perhaps schedule us to play outside of London during this period? Or will it mean a more intensive period of midweek matches in late September or in the run up to Christmas? I guess we will have to wait and see, but this could have an impact on the London clubs.
My own gut feeling is that the Paralympics will have less spectators and lower policing requirements than the Olympics, and we should be able to play. The Met might see it differently, however...
As for the paralympics, I believe it has already been announced that these are pretty much a sell out, so I guess the same applies for the period that they are on as well.