Coronavirus restrictions put Highland League football season 'on pause', with kick-off delayed by six week until late November at the earliest
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THE Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL) football season will not kick off before November 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Clubs met with the league management committee on Monday night and a decision was made to pause the proposed start to the campaign for a minimum of six weeks.
Earlier this month, league secretary Rod Houston issued a fixture list for the first three weeks of the season , scheduled to begin on October 17.
The league stressed that games would only take place if fans could be in attendance at all grounds.
However, the increase in Covid-19 positive cases across Scotland prompted the Scottish Government to impose tougher restrictions, including a ban on crowds attending football matches.
A delay to the SHFL campaign was inevitable, and the programme has now been put on hold with another league meeting planned for November.
A spokesperson for the league said a decision had been made to pause the start of the 2020-2021 season in view of the current public health circumstances.
"The season will not start before Saturday 28th November and confirmation of that or an extension of the pause will be considered at a meeting during the week beginning Monday 9th November."
"The League Management Committee undertook a careful and detailed consideration of the current situation and felt that, all things considered, a pause was the most appropriate course of action."