The Ebac Northern League has asked the Football Association to extend the season by an extra week.

The FA instructed all the leagues in the pyramid system to finish their seasons by 5th May, but the league suffered yet another washout at the weekend, and the two scheduled matches on Monday were both postponed. One of those involved Marske United, who still have 15 matches to play, while Dunston have 13.

League secretary Kevin Hewitt said:“Due to the long spell of bad weather there is an unprecedented backlog of fixtures faced by several clubs in the league.

“We have written to the FA asking them to extend the deadline by a week.

“First and foremost we are concerned about the impact on players of playing several games in quick succession. Professional players are not expected to play so many games in such a short period and we believe it is not fair to expect our players to do so.

“The backlog means extra work for the committees, volunteers and ground staff who are already doing such a fantastic job to make sure games go ahead.

“So many games can cause long-term damage to pitches. Spectators are also being asked to pay to watch three or four games within 10 days, which we believe is unreasonable.”

The FA is expected to consider the request at a meeting of its Leagues Committee next week.