Sittingbourne withdraw their youth teams from competition until the New Year

Sittingbourne have issued the following statement, concerning their youth structure:

“Sittingbourne Youth Football Club as a whole respect the Kent Youth League, Medway Messenger League and Maidstone Invicta Primary League in their attempts to get youth football back up and running this month.

“However, after much deliberation and discussion within the Youth Committee as well as consultation with each age group manager/coach, we have decided to withdraw from playing any competitive league or cup matches for the remainder of the year.

“There are several underlining factors in this decision, one being that Kent has been placed in Tier Three and we feel that putting our players and their families, the opposition and their families, as well as match officials at risk is not something we wish to do.

“We also feel that with several schools in the local area having bubbles and year groups in isolation that the probability of getting full squads for matches would also be challenging.

“I know you may feel disappointed but I hope you understand why we have come to this decision.

“We are looking forward to finishing the season off in the new year, which by then we hope that there will be less of a risk.”

The Borough of Swale has the most Covid-19 infection rates in the country, which has forced the UK Government to impose Tier Three restrictions for the whole of Kent.

No fans are allowed to attend football matches in Kent due to these Tier Three restrictions, however, fans will be allowed to attend football matches in Tier Two areas, for example in London Borough's and in neighbouring Surrey and Sussex, once the second national lockdown finishes on Wednesday.