NORTHERN NSW Football operations manager Alan Nisbet said FFA Cup commitments will be taken into consideration in rescheduling washed out league games as teams face the possibility of playing four matches in a week.
Round nine of the NNSW National Premier League and round 14 of the second-tier First Division were washed out on the weekend, creating a potential logjam of games for six Hunter sides in the FFA Cup.
NPL clubs Hamilton, Edgeworth and Lambton Jaffas and First Division sides Singleton, Thornton and Belmont Swansea will play on June 18 at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility for the chance to compete the next day for one of two NNSW places in the nationwide knockout’s round of 32.
Under NNSWF guidelines, washed out fixtures are typically played 10 days after the original timeslot, meaning the weekend’s rescheduled games will be held midweek before the FFA Cup clashes.
Hamilton, who play Norths United (Armidale), Jaffas, who take on Belswans, and Edgeworth, who meet Urunga, will be expected to progress to the June 19 match at Speers Point, giving them the likelihood of four games in the space of seven days. Thornton or Singleton will also progress to Sunday and have the same workload.
Regulations call for clubs to make all attempts to play postponed games inside 10 days but Nisbet said NNSWF would take the FFA Cup weekend into consideration.
Edgeworth coach Damian Zane and Hamilton counterpart Michael Bolch said playing their washouts, against Maitland and Charlestown respectively, this week would be preferable, if their grounds had recovered in time.
Nisbet said NNSWF would determine what was “best for the game” if opposing clubs could not come to agreement.
“If they wanted to play this week, if both clubs agreed, I’d be happy to look at that,” he said. “The regulations surrounding the washouts are in place to simply have the games played in a timeframe we think is acceptable.
“If both clubs can play before that and both agree on it, or if there are reasons it can’t be played in that timeframe, then we are happy to sit down and look at those reasons and work it out with the clubs.
“We need both teams to agree to any changes outside the regulations, then we either endorse it or we don’t. If both teams don’t agree, then we will make a decision we believe is best for the game.
“If a club does have to play two [FFA Cup] games then we would certainly look at that and make adjustments.”
League competitions rest for the June 18-19 weekend and Nisbet said non-FFA Cup teams could use the dates to play their rescheduled games.
PS4 NPL NNSW Round 9 Olympic v Charlestown Fixture has been rescheduled.
1st Grade
Wednesday 29 June kick off 7pm
Under 22s
Tuesday 14 June kick off 7.45pm
Under 19s
Tuesday 14 June kick off 6.00pm
source: theherald.com.au
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