AN early decision by the Wirral Borough Council to close all grounds on Thursday was proved to be the correct decision as the rainy weather conditions continued and made all grounds unplayable.

This is the first weekend in which grounds have been closed this winter, but no doubt there will be many more as the inclement weather season is now upon us. All clubs now need to keep a watchful eye on the league website and they should contact the league secretary for clarification on any matters.

Hopefully, clubs will now understand the reasons for starting the season early and getting as many games played whilst the weather allows for pitches to be used without damaging them. Because as we all know, each year we have a spell of weather that prevents games from being played due to the poor condition of grounds.

However, one game did take place on a private ground and saw Christleton Youth ease home 6-1 versus Heswall Youth in the Youth Division Cup second round thanks to Sam Manton bagging a fine treble, Tommy George netting a great double and Matty Waite claimed the only single in a great team performance.

So this nearly blank week provides the opportunity to explain the ‘Conference date’ rule, which is there to provide guidance to all teams regarding the eligibility of players for cup games. Whenever the conference date is stated, this means that players must be eligible before the stated date to be able to play and if the games are postponed, the conference date still remains the date for players to be classed as eligible. This also applies even if the game does not take place for several weeks and means you cannot use players that have been signed on after the stated conference date.