So back on the 11th January the SFA confirmed what we were all expecting, that all Scottish leagues below the SPL and Championship are now suspended due to Covid.

No complaints from us as this is obviously the right call from a public health point of view and some things are more important than football.

We don’t have to like it, but we do have to accept reality.

Three weeks on and the vaccine rollouts are going really well by all accounts, but the talk is of restrictions being eased very gradually and I would not expect lower league football to be anywhere near the front of the queue when it comes to getting things reopened.

So in our opinion, the likeliest outcome is that the season will be abandoned.

Here’s what the club said:

Moving forward, if the Lowland League gets back underway before or around the beginning of March, there is still hope that a full schedule of fixtures can be completed. If the break continues into mid-March and beyond, it will likely pose some difficulties, as there is a deadline for when the Promotion/Relegation Play-off needs to be played by, so some alternative arrangements may need to be made.

Look, they’re not even going to open schools by the beginning of March, so what chance do we have? Let’s be realistic, and just start planning for next season now.

From a BRFC perspective, that’s probably no great loss.

There is no way we’re threatening the promotion places from this position. If the club plans properly now and starts looking at developing a squad for the 2021/22 season now, rather than in the summer, then hopefully we can be in a position to put that right next season.

I was pretty down after relegation but thought I might kind of enjoy the Lowland League in a strange kind of way, the opportunity to play some different teams and visit some different grounds. But I’m properly bored of it now! Promotion back to the league cannot come soon enough, and while nobody here has any delusions of grandeur, we do genuinely feel that league status is “where we belong” so the sooner that is restored the better.

It’s been a very strange year all round for obvious reasons, but as a country maybe we’re seeing some light at the end of the tunnel now. If so then who knows, perhaps this time last year the football will start going right as well and we could all have something to celebrate.

Onwards and upwards.