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Dulwich Hamlet and Coronavirus

In the non league setup in Scotland (known as the juniors for historical reasons although it's adult men's football), long bad winters often see teams playing Saturday - Monday - Wednesday in late April and May. It's bloody great as you can basically go to the football all the time. These are lads on at most £100 a week as well.

However 12 weeks from now, puts us into June. I've seen before online that Danny Mills is on a two year deal, but I'd imagine a lot of players contracts run out after the last game of the season or the end of May (to allow for playoffs and FA Trophy). A lot of clubs might not have contracted players - and what of folk like Tonbridge that needed a lot of money just to see out the season?
 
There's some teams who have played far fewer games than others. We have 35, but Tonbridge 31 and Billericay and Concord 32. If you look at teams' average points per game:

Tonbridge 1.161
Concord 1.152
Billericay 1.152
Dulwich Hamlet 1.057
St. Albans 1.057
Braintree 1.000
Hungerford 0.848

Should still see us safe if they stop it now!
 
To be blunt, the probability is clubs will go bust before this is over. (I'd suggest Hamlet will need more money to see themselves through to the end of playing contracts than Tonbridge BTW.) Those with players under contract have to keep paying them, despite having no income in many cases. Many clubs lower down, without contracted players, will also struggle as a lot of them rely on bar and function room takings and now we've been told not to go to the pub as well as football. They may not have to pay non contracted players but the other bills will keep on coming.

I really can't see how this season will be finished before the current playing contracts are over. I suspect they will just declare the whole non-league season null and void at our level and the clubs who are left standing will go again in the same division next season - with clubs moving up levels to replace anyone who goes bust. It's going to be a nightmare to sort out though.

It's not just non-league football. A key figure in rugby league has already said they fear rugby league will not survive the next few weeks as a professional sport.
 
Sadly the first redundancies have emerged already. Barnet have put all non playing staff on notice, though it looks like they would have had to act to some degree even without Coronavurus

www.barnetfc.com

Club Statement

In light of recent events the Club would like to release the following statement.
www.barnetfc.com www.barnetfc.com

Edited to say there's an interesting comment in the Guardian's report. It states that business disruption insurance is standard within the National League (presumably therefore the National Leagues) but that the clubs are currently unable to claim as the government has only recommended the cessation of sports events and not prohibited the matches from being played.

www.theguardian.com

Barnet lay off all non-playing staff as club counts cost of coronavirus

National League club Barnet have responded to the suspension of football by putting all the club’s non-playing staff, about 60 people, on immediate notice of redundancy
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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Assume the AGM on 26th March is cancelled. The club needs to tell us if the FA are going to pay players wages for the remainder of the season. Or if there is anything we can do to raise or donate money.

Was thinking those NL clubs that survive will not be certain if the new season is going to start in August/September so they will be reluctant to offer players contracts. There could potentially be lots of players floating around.
 
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I don't see why supporters should have to donate anything.
 
The Chancellor confirmed last night he believes the governments actions to date will trigger Business Interruption insurance in the hospitality industry. Hopefully that also applies to football and that all Conference clubs do have Business Interruption insurance as that should make a difference. (And hopefully they didn't under-insure to save a few bob.)

I can't see the FA stepping in. How much money would it take to sort out probably two thirds of the EFL, the top two tiers of non-league and large chunks of the third tier? (i.e. where contracted players are common.) Would it even be right for them to do so? They have limited funds and are guardians of the game, their focus should be on grassroots etc. not paying wages to players. I think the only way they can step in is in the form of loans if they are confident they will get the money back quickly and they have a large sum of money they can easily access. Large chunks of their money comes from the government from memory and is probably ring fenced to specific projects.

Irrespective of whether supporters should or shouldn't have to donate, I fear if clubs are down to zero income that method of fundraising just won't be sufficient. Tonbridge have previously confirmed they require £7.6k a week to get through to the end of the season. I can't see any club at our level raising that sort of money week in, week out solely from their supporters until contracts are up. I doubt Tonbridge are the highest paying club in the league either.

Edited to say I mean I can't see that sum being raised via small(ish) donations. There may be club's where a benefactor stumps up large sums, people buy equity etc. Raising large sums is possible and probably will be done by some. Just not via twenty quid here and a tenner there.
 
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Son of Roy said:
Assume the AGM on 26th March is cancelled. The club needs to tell us if the FA are going to pay players wages for the remainder of the season. Or if there is anything we can do to raise or donate money.

Was thinking those NL clubs that survive will not be certain if the new season is going to start in August/September so they will be reluctant to offer players contracts. There could potentially be lots of players floating around.
Click to expand...
I believe the shareholders AGM is still going ahead although format may change.
 
Roger D said:
The Chancellor confirmed last night he believes the governments actions to date will trigger Business Interruption insurance in the hospitality industry. Hopefully that also applies to football and that all Conference clubs do have Business Interruption insurance as that should make a difference. (And hopefully they didn't under-insure to save a few bob.)

I can't see the FA stepping in. How much money would it take to sort out probably two thirds of the EFL, the top two tiers of non-league and large chunks of the third tier? (i.e. where contracted players are common.) Would it even be right for them to do so? They have limited funds and are guardians of the game, their focus should be on grassroots etc. not paying wages to players. I think the only way they can step in is in the form of loans if they are confident they will get the money back quickly and they have a large sum of money they can easily access. Large chunks of their money comes from the government from memory and is probably ring fenced to specific projects.

Irrespective of whether supporters should or shouldn't have to donate, I fear if clubs are down to zero income that method of fundraising just won't be sufficient. Tonbridge have previously confirmed they require £7.6k a week to get through to the end of the season. I can't see any club at our level raising that sort of money week in, week out solely from their supporters until contracts are up. I doubt Tonbridge are the highest paying club in the league either.

Edited to say I mean I can't see that sum being raised via small(ish) donations. There may be club's where a benefactor stumps up large sums, people buy equity etc. Raising large sums is possible and probably will be done by some. Just not via twenty quid here and a tenner there.
Click to expand...

1. Business Interruption Cover often does not include Acts Of God and this would count as one. The League may have a policy but just like pubs etc it is likely that it won't trigger without government declaring sports events must stop rather than being advisory.

2. I don't believe the club has asked for donations and don't think they will.

Obviously player wages were budgeted based on fulfilling a set number of home fixtures and their contracts still have to be paid until the first week of May.
 
The Chancellor last night stated he believed the government actions to date were sufficient to trigger business interruption insurance payments in the pub etc business. They still aren't formally closed, it remains an advisory. Not seen anything to confirm this viewpoint from the insurance industry yet mind. If they say it isn't, I suspect he'll have dug himself into a hole and it will become a formal ban. Clearly he spoke re pubs etc. It may be different for sport.

I'd also suggest for most clubs it won't matter as I doubt many have that insurance - as it seems many pubs etc don't. The Guardian suggested this insurance was mandatory at Conference National level so guess it may be in tier two?

The comment re fundraising was a more generic comment on the wider issue facing higher level clubs rather than DHFC specific. I haven't seen any clubs fundraising in that manner yet tbh though I have seen the odd unofficial fundraiser starting up.

Edited for information, Didcot Town have started a Go Fund Me page stating the future of the club is in doubt.
 
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The main bodies have now confirmed that they won't play until the end of April so I'd expect the National League to do the same.

The Athletic are reporting the league have agreed to Ben's suggested route forward and are asking the FA for a £17m loan to see their member clubs through to the restart/next season.

Edited to say it looks like the FA are approaching the government for assistance.
 
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Clubs and the National League being proactive, with our chairman to the fore:

www.standard.co.uk

National League clubs face £17m shortfall during coronavirus crisis

The National League’s 68 clubs are facing a cash shortfall of around £17million due to the coronavirus crisis, with the League’s chief executive, Michael Tattersall, warning that “every single one” could be forced into “shutdown” if the Government does not step in to provide financial support.
www.standard.co.uk www.standard.co.uk
 
Roger D said:
The Chancellor last night stated he believed the government actions to date were sufficient to trigger business interruption insurance payments in the pub etc business. They still aren't formally closed, it remains an advisory. Not seen anything to confirm this viewpoint from the insurance industry yet mind. If they say it isn't, I suspect he'll have dug himself into a hole and it will become a formal ban. Clearly he spoke re pubs etc. It may be different for sport.

I'd also suggest for most clubs it won't matter as I doubt many have that insurance - as it seems many pubs etc don't. The Guardian suggested this insurance was mandatory at Conference National level so guess it may be in tier two?

The comment re fundraising was a more generic comment on the wider issue facing higher level clubs rather than DHFC specific. I haven't seen any clubs fundraising in that manner yet tbh though I have seen the odd unofficial fundraiser starting up.
Click to expand...

As someone who works in insurance (though as a consultant, not for an actual company), I wouldn't count on many business interruption (BI) claims being successful, given that almost each one has to attach to a Property Damage (PD) claim, in the form of a PDBI policy. For example, if a pub burnt down, the lost revenue in the time it took to reconstruct would be covered under the BI element of the PDBI policy.

This virus hasn't caused any property damage so none of those policies should trigger, unless the pub (or national League) in this case has purchased additional cover to cover non damage business interruption (NDBI), which is unlikely given the substantial extra cost involved.

The chancellor has dug a massive hole for himself, I think in the hope that it'll shift the public blame onto insurance companies. But the fact is right now many insurance companies would go bust if they had to pay out on all policies, as they haven't received enough premiums to cover the cost since most of their policyholders opted not to buy the additional cover. It's similar to buying third party, fire & theft cover and being aggrieved that the insurance company wouldn't pay for you crashing into a lamppost. So it's unlikely that they'll pay out given that they can't afford, and they'd end up defaulting on the policies of clients who did actually pay for the extra cover in this case.

tl,dr: would be surprised if insurance covered lost revenue from virus, chancellor has dug huge hole.
 
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