Non-league clubs are crying out for financial assistance to help ease a growing crisis

THE harsh realities that non-league football clubs face are really hitting home this winter with the wretched weather leading to a host of postponements.

- By STUART JAMES

That in turn is hitting finances hard at levels of the game laden with love, but not with money.As saturated grass pitches are offered no mercy from Mother Nature, there is little anyone can do but cross their fingers and hope for some respite. All the while, those volunteers in the boardroom sit nervously watching finances dwindle away with contracts and bills having to be met with virtually no income due to a constant string of call-offs.

Tiverton Town are one such club. Ladysmead is notorious for struggling to cope with wet weather at the best of times, but when it's as severe and persistent as this winter, then they literally have no chance of fulfilling their fixtures.

Last Friday, they released a statement outlining some hard facts from the levels of unprecedented rainfall, the costs incurred for running more than just a men’s first team and the loss of revenue (down 40 percent) when Saturday postponements become Tuesday nights under the lights. In conclusion for Tiverton, it's all lead to cutbacks and player departures and a seemingly inevitable for a club already rock bottom and 16 points adrift of safety, despite having plenty of games in hand.