More football games across the South West Peninsula League (SWPL) have had to be postponed due to rising number of Covid-19 cases in the area.

On Saturday August 21 Bodmin Town vs Penryn Athletic was forced off. Tonight's match between Penzance and Porthleven plus Penzance vs Wadebridge on the weekend have also been postponed. The highly anticipated clash between Falmouth Town and Bodmin Town has also been delayed. 

 

There have been 19 games postponed so far this season, 15 of which are of a direct result of covid cases.

The postponements follow a surge in cases in the area with reports stating that more 4500 covid cases 'could be linked' to the music festival Boardmasters.

Speaking to The Packet, SWPL secretary Phil Hiscox believed there is a link between the festival and the positive cases amongst teams in the leagues, he said: "It has clearly got worse in Cornwall, particularly I have to say there is a direct correlation between that (the rise in cases) and Boardmasters because so many of the clubs have reported that players who have brought it back to the squads had been to Boardmasters."

"There are two problems, the first are that we've only got FA Guidance not actual rules on what triggers a postponement and what doesn't so each individual case has to be looked at in its merits whether it is someone who has caught it has been away from football and possibly their team could play without them,  or whether it is somebody who has been in the dressing rooms, on the minibus where there has been close contact because that then moves all to the fact that not all of the players have been double jabbed so they are still having to isolate because they haven't been double jabbed yet so that is the age profile side of it.

 

Hiscox explained how there is a lot riding on this season getting completed after the previous two have been forced to be curtailed across the lower leagues in the country due to the pandemic, but insisted that that the league prepare time at the end of the season for called off fixtures to be played, he said: "There is the wider issue is that we have had two seasons interrupted by covid the pressure is on from the FA to ensure that the season is finished.

"It is worrying that you are losing games now in August when the weather is good, because you never know what the Great British weather is going to bring us later on so there is that other concern. When I do the fixtures I make sure there is that spare capacity toward the end of the season which is kept back predominantly for the wet weather, which i can use for now no problem.

"However if we then have a bad winter some of those dates I am using now I won't have available to me later on, we have to have one eye on what sort of winter we are going to have.