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Football in lockdown: Barrow AFC fans' anxious wait for promotion decision

Media caption,

Young Barrow football fans face anxious wait over promotion

It's not just the big Premier League teams like Liverpool waiting to see how the season will end.

Fans of non-league clubs are also nervously waiting for a decision too.

The fifth tier of English football is called the National League. This is where non-league teams play and is the last step before the English Football League, which includes League Two, League One and the Championship.

With more money for clubs, bigger crowds, and more professional players, it's a big deal if your team gets promoted.

But last month, because of the the coronavirus pandemic, the National League season was cancelled before all the teams had a chance to play all of their games. That means for fans of teams hoping to get promotion to League Two, they now face an uncertain time before a decision is made on what happens next.

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Before the cancellation, Barrow AFC were top of the National League table by four points, hoping to get promoted and play in the Football League for the first time in 48 years.

The team was voted out of the league back in 1972, and now another vote will decide their fate in 2020.

All the clubs in the National League have been asked to vote on what should happen, meaning promotion for Barrow is far from certain.

The Barrow manager, Ian Evatt, has said that before coronavirus the whole town of Barrow had been lifted by the team's performances: "Young kids are wearing Barrow shirts again," he said.

"For us to get knocked back would have a devastating effect on the whole community."

So far clubs have been told that if the League Two season is cancelled without anyone being relegated into the National League and if there are no play-offs, then at least one promotion place from the National League could be lost.

This would have a big impact on teams below Barrow like Harrogate Town and Notts County.

In a letter to the clubs, the National League Board said there is no formal system to decide the final league table for non-league teams playing in the National League, National League North and National League South.

But they mention three possible ways to make a decision:

  1. All results no longer count.

  2. Clubs' league positions stay as they are from when the league was cancelled.

  3. Calculating a final point total using a mathematical formula.

Image source, Getty Images

Fans of Liverpool might be interested to see if Barrow AFC are awarded the National League title and promotion without finishing the season, as it could provide a strong case for the Premier League season finishing in the same way.

As it stands there will be no football played for a while, with sport only being restarted if lockdown restrictions are eased.

There is no firm date for the Premier League to restart while the English Football League told its clubs the earliest date players may return to training would be 16 May, meaning even if that date was met, football would not restart until June.

Meanwhile, the non-league levels below the National League have already cancelled their entire seasons. Scotland's Championship, League One and League Two have also ended early, while a decision on what will happen to the Scottish Premiership hasn't yet been made.

Are you a supporter of a non-league team? What do you think should happen? Let us know in the comments below.