OTLEY Town chairman Kai Arter shares the sentiments of many lower non-league teams who feel disappointed in the Football Association's ruling of voiding the 2019/20 season for clubs playing in steps 3-7 of the football pyramid.

The FA announced the decision last week meaning there will be no promotion or relegation in the various leagues.

More than 100 clubs signed an open letter at the start of the week asking for the governing body to reconsider their decision.

Arter feels consultations with the clubs involved should have happened instead of a 'rushed' conclusion which effects the majority negatively.

He said: "As a lot of clubs we were very disappointed and surprised. The decision is the worst decision for everybody.

"The last that we heard was that the West Yorkshire League were talking to us about our thoughts on how we would end the season.Within a couple of days, there was an announcement from the FA that the season had been cancelled.

"When you step back and think about it the FA are not consistent throughout the whole of the game. The Premier League and Championship are still talking about trying to finish the season.

"Why is it one rule for them and one rule for us? That doesn’t seem right at all.

"The FA is suppose to represent the whole of football, professional and amateur. They are clearly not doing that.

"Our main concern is people’s health and in the grand scheme of things this is not a massive thing.

"People have put a lot of hard work in and by cancelling the season it doesn’t recognise that at all.

"The decision seems very rushed and not made without the clubs consultation.

"We all realise normal life is not going to recommence in 3-4 months at least so why not bide your time."

Town sit third in the West Yorkshire League Division One, only five points away from leaders Shelley.

Therefore, a points per game average finish would certainly benefit Otley, however Arter does not feel comfortable gaining promotion through this method and would rather play to a conclusion.

The Otley chief said: "It would be better to finish the season. A lot of the players were looking forward to getting out there at some point.

"If it was just about us getting promotion I would say lets have a points per game because on that basis we would be promoted. But, I think it would be more fulfilling if we played out the rest of the season.

"We were in a good position but there was no guarantees that we would go up by any means."

Arter has been pleased with how clubs have come together during these difficult times.

He added: "The open letter was done very quickly, it was issued within 36 hours of it starting. There was a huge amount of cooperation between clubs. The spirit between all the clubs from different levels was brilliant to see. "There are teams who have nothing to gain who have also signed the letter even if they look like they could be relegated. It is important that we all stick together."