In light of the announcement from Liverpool County FA yesterday that players, managers and coaches, with the exception of the first team, can’t travel across the tiered levels introduced by the Government to kerb the spread of Covid-19, the club has decided to suspend all youth and women’s football until further notice.

The Liverpool City region currently sits in Tier 3 the highest level of restriction and West Lancashire sits in Tier 2.

The majority of our youth teams play in the Craven Minor League which has teams that play across West Lancashire and Sefton. Late last night we were advised by the League that they would look to suspend all matches that involve teams that are based outside the Liverpool City Region.

Sadly, the implications go much deeper than not involving teams from West Lancashire. Across all our teams we have players and coaches who reside in West Lancashire and as such we will not be able play any matches and leave those players / coaches behind

Head of Operations James Tedford said “it’s a sad sign of the times that the best chance we have of our youth sections continuing playing football is the news that West Lancashire are now in Tier 3 so we should be able to cross county lines ‘safely’”.

We will continue our dialogue with Liverpool and Lancashire County FA’s and Sefton MBC to ensure that clear and concise guidance is provided in respect of football progressing safely across county lines or suspending it indefinitely.

We are hopeful that the suspension of football will be for this weekend only.