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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Recommendation made to end Championship season "immediately"

A mathematical model will be used to determine the final standings in this season's Bluefin Sport Championship.

The NI Football League said it has been recommended to end the current campaign "immediately".

That follows a teleconference meeting with member clubs on Tuesday night.

Promotion and relegation will also apply to just the automatic positions, with no playoffs.

In a statement, NIFL said: "The recommendation is to end the 2019/2020 season immediately and develop a mathematical curtailment model to determine final placings.

"Furthermore, promotion and relegation will only apply to the automatic positions with no playoffs."

Portadown currently lead the Championship by six points over Ballinamallard United, but have played one game more.

At the bottom end of the table the PSNI sit bottom, two points adrift of Knockbreda.

Meanwhile, a similar model is set to be used to determine the final standings in the Premier Intermediate League.

Annagh United are currently three points ahead of Portstewart at the summit, while Tobermore United sit bottom - one point behind Limavady United but with a game in hand.

"Similar to the Championship, the recommendation is to end the 2019/2020 season immediately and develop a mathematical curtailment model to determine final placings," NIFL added.

"Promotion to the Championship will only apply to the automatic position, with no promotion playoff to be played."

Meanwhile, the NI Football League remains committed to playing the 2020 Women’s Premiership season later in the year, but only "when it is safe to do so."

Elsewhere, the league says it is the recommendation to end the 2019/2020 Development and Academy Leagues season "immediately" with a mathematical curtailment model developed to determine final placings.

Clubs are requested to provide their responses on the proposals by 5pm on Thursday, and following the collation of club decisions the steering group intends to present recommendations to the NIFL Board on Friday.

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