Beith boss Bryan Young says it was inevitable that the West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) would null and void the 2020/21 season.

The WoSFL was postponed at the start of the year alongside all other football below the Scottish Championship due to the rising spread of COVID-19 across Scotland.

Although several leagues returned to playing last weekend the WoSFL was not one of them as their clubs no longer fell under the professional exemption category to return to training.

The Scottish Government route map announcement last week, which showed that adult contact sports are planned to return on May 17 at the earliest, scuppered the WoSFL plans to return in April.

So, the WoSFL announced on March 17 that all the leagues would be null and voided this season with a further call on the South Challenge Cup to be announced in due course.

Speaking to the Herald, Young said: “It was just a case of when rather than if, it was definitely going to happen and when the Scottish Government announced it was May 17, it was just the final nail in the coffin.

“I felt when we first stopped there was an opportunity if the postponements were only for three weeks, which happened before, and we came back again, then we could resume.

“However, when the postponement kept going, I thought it would be difficult to start back and conclude anything.”

Next season is shaping up to be a very exciting one across the divisions as it will see the return of several teams who sat this season out due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Many former junior football heavyweights such as Auchinleck Talbot, Cumnock, Pollok and Glenafton will all make a return to join the Premier Division and play alongside the Mighty.

Young says he does not know what standard these clubs will come back at but admits they will add further competition to the WoSFL.

“Our league is going to be very exciting next year, with the teams and players that are in it … what a standard it is going to be.”