Time to get to grips with fixtures headache

STAGS, funerals, weddings, and nature are just some of the obstacles county fixture committees are asked to overcome when scheduling hundreds of games for thousands of players every year.

Throw in a demanding county manager under pressure to deliver results and the job becomes virtually impossible.

It’s something often criticised but the solutions are never properly debated because it’s a minefield. Fixture scheduling at club level, like many other things, is a problem within that has been allowed to ramble on. Fingers point at fixture secretaries but everyone must share the blame for this perennial headache.