Leighton Town - Football focus for when it's all over

Leighton Town players in their FA Vase game in Kent earlier in March Picture by Andrew Parker

While sport isn’t high on everyone’s minds in the coronavirus crisis, the hope of life returning to normal and fans watching football again will be something to look forward to in the testing weeks or months to come.

Leighton Town’s season had been gaining momentum with every game recently before the Spartan South Midlands League were among the first to suspend the season’s fixtures amid the restrictons to stop the spread of Covid-19.

And last week the club immediately followed further government guidelines and procedures:

Their statement said: “After yesterday’s Government update, the Committee at Leighton Town FC have agreed that we have no option but to close the club for business with immediate effect for as long as necessary.

“It’s impossible to avoid the close interaction between customers and staff in this kind of setting.

“It is part of our duty as a Committee to protect our staff and also protect our members and local community.”

The club’s media officer Kieran Carvell added: “Sport is now not anyone’s main priority, it’s about keeping everyone safe and stopping the spread of coronavirus.

“We had started the season poorly and then been on an amazing run of games, pushing for promotion so it’s very strange to find ourselves suddenly on a massive break or the season cancelled.

“It’s hard to imagine our Vase game, when so many of us travelled to Kent, was only just a couple of weeks ago, so much has changed in that short space of time.

“Our message for supporters would be to stay safe and look after yourselves, follow the guidelines and stay in - that’s the most important thing.

“Then hopefully if everyone does their bit, we can stop the spread and be back at Bell Close in a few weeks.

“We are missing football as much as the supporters are and looking forward to a time when we can all be watching Town play again, hopefully in sunny conditions.”