Somerset FA try to reserve the date for rounds of County Youth Cup competitions to avoid falling with school holiday times, mindful that parents are encouraged to book holidays outside of term time we do not wish to penalise clubs who have players absent through such holidays. With the recent inclement weather there have been a number of matches where the reserve date, that falls within a term time, that have been cancelled; however when the match rolls back to the following weekend this date has then fallen within the period of a school holiday, often resulting in players being absent from one or both teams through holidays. Therefore Somerset FA should like to make their policy clear in this scenario:

• If a rearranged County cup date falls within the period of a school holiday, the match will go ahead of both clubs have players available and is mutually agreed by both clubs on the first or subsequent weekends of the holiday period.
• If one or both of the clubs have players on holiday during the school holiday period then they must inform the county association immediately and they will be allowed to postpone the game. Clubs MUST inform their opponents, the County Referees Appointment Officer and, where appointed, their match referees (and assistants if applicable)
• In this scenario the match will be played in the first weekend of the next school term.
  Where school term periods are not concurrent between different education authorities and clubs are from separate authorities, a club will be allowed to postpone if they have players on holiday in a school holiday period even if their opponents have finished their holiday period. Where school term times are not concurrent the default date in bullet 3 shall be the first weekend when both clubs are in term time.

Please note this only applies to the SFA County Youth Cup competitions (Youth Shield, Girls U6 Cup, Lewin Cup, Girls U14 Cup & U13 Cup); it is NOT applicable to adult competitions.

We hope this clarifies the situation, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the county office.