New Year, same old story as WOSFL clubs face up to the prospect of a complete wipe-out of today’s scheduled fixture card.

A wintry combination of frost, ice, and snow kyboshed last weekend’s first round of  2021 matches and it’s looking like a second successive Saturday without a ball being kicked is on the cards with a proverbial rash of postponements expected to follow on from clubs carrying out pitch inspections this morning.

Even the astro-grass surfaces at Clydebank, Rossvale, Renfrew and Carluke Rovers are   thought to be doubtful at best though that hasn’t prevented club officials doing their utmost to get games on by delaying planned inspections until much closer to kick-off times.

This severe weather mix and the ever-increasing backlog of games will be seen as an unwanted double-whammy by the WOSFL Interim Management Group, who are also coming under renewed pressure to call a temporary halt to the season while Scotland as a nation are under stringent lockdown restrictions to try to control the spread of the latest coronavirus strain.

The remaining SJFA leagues are leading the way with both the East and North regions opting this week to suspend their current seasons until Saturday 6th February, however an even bigger bombshell announcement came only yesterday when Conference A outfit Maybole released a club statement revealing details of a letter submitted to WOSFL beaks by their long-standing manager Carlo Walker which stated...

“I have spoken to a few people regarding the current state of the pandemic and we as a club have written to the League Secretary to tell them we propose a break until February.

"The infection numbers are higher now than in March last year when we were forced to stop and I personally think a break to stay away from each other and other teams is now critical.

"We have suspended all training and we anticipate that Saturday’s match (away v Ashfield) may be off due to weather.

"We are asking the league and all other teams to take this break from all competitive games until February which we feel will keep everyone safe and worry not just for our  players and staff but their friends and families.

"We hope to get back to playing and training once we have this short break alongside the Lockdown – Carlo."

A 12-point penalty deduction at the start of next season is the applicable punishment should the 75-year-old Ayrshire club carry out their implied threat to take a break, however it must be extremely concerning to the powers-that-be to hear of an emerging  groundswell of opinion backing the stance taken by Walker and his club.

As one fellow team boss insisted: “I haven’t always seen eye to eye with Carlo. but he's 100% right to ask for the WOSFL to intervene at a time when Covid is more rife than ever and we are all being asked to stay at home unless for essential purposes.

“Every club without exception has encountered instances of players being positive but the stats are treated as low key and kept under wraps by most.

“Our own club officials discussed the situation knowing players are not being regularly tested at this level and risk spreading the virus every time they pull on a strip but the over-riding threat hanging over our heads of a 12 points deduction  being imposed saw to it that nothing was ever decided.

“Remove that penalty and I’m pretty sure more clubs than Maybole will be calling for a halt to the season.

“Hopefully the WOSFL will now make the call for all of us.”