As we reach the end of September and head towards the colder nights and floodlit Saturday football as well as midweek evenings you’ll be mistaken to think that there is a let up in games to watch.
Despite the season beginning in August not every club and league are at the same level of fixtures played. The FA competitions have certainly had their way in the opening months and quite a few clubs find themselves with a lot of football to play in just the coming weeks.
Some leagues are up with some good levels and so far the weather has been kind with a very limited number of postponements seen other than for cup fixtures and sparse weather conditions. Granted it’s a very crowded schedule these days, especially with a deep run the cup competitions.
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The National League divisions are pretty well up with their fixtures with the North and South sides only just making their mark on the FA Cup. Underneath them at Steps 3 and 4 which is the Southern, Northern and Isthmian leagues it starts to get a little patchy.
All the Southern leagues are in good shape for games played so far, the Northern league not too far behind but the Isthmian league who started a week after seem to be a fair way behind. Some sides in those divisions have played just three league games almost two months into a 38 game season and there doesn’t appear to be too much clamour to fit in the midweek rearrangements.
We saw a few years ago that front loading the season, i.e. putting as many fixtures as you can into the first few months, can make a significant difference if there is a horrendous round of weather on the way. That’s not to mean going overboard for every Saturday and Tuesday but in a way a little bit of common sense.
Those who have suffered early cup exits haven’t seen too much movement in games moved forward from later in the season either, you have to hope there is no bitter winter on the way or rain that would have Noah reaching for the ark.
The County Leagues levels of Steps 5 and 6 are in pretty good shape as well barring those whose cup runs have left them a few games adrift of the rest but not too much of a challenge to catch those up.
Once again at those levels the Northern clubs lead the way and granted they do tend to get worse weather across the country however the size of the divisions are exactly the same.
 I wouldn’t say there’s a right or wrong way to plan a fixture list but I’m sure clubs would prefer to be in front of themselves instead of playing catch up for a majority of the time, a few sides here in Sussex have found themselves with a little bit of a stop start season so far.
It doesn’t allow for any momentum to build either, while you aren’t going to mind missing a Saturday game if your opponents are in cup competitions, missing at least two weekends in a row and no midweek games isn’t doing your club any favours.
