THE integrity of the National League could come into question if some clubs halt play, Weymouth chairman Ian White believes.

In February, clubs in Step 2 voted to null and void their season, while Step 1 teams in the National League opted to carry on without relegation or promotion to or from the tier below.

Amid a funding dilemma brought on by a barren winter of behind-closed-doors fixtures, Dover Athletic have already stopped play and furloughed their first-team members.

Following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Weymouth, King’s Lynn Town have indicated they will continue with reduced costs.

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Seven of the 23 National League teams voted to end the season, and White feels the integrity of the division could be harmed if clubs furlough paid players to save money.

The furlough scheme was yesterday extended to September 30 from April 30, following the Budget announcement.

White told Echosport: “The bottom six, we’re almost in dead rubber territory now.

“If a club decides to take the route that perhaps some of the clubs in the National League South and North did, where they furloughed all their players and used either youth or under-23 players, what does that do to the integrity of the National League?

“I’m not surprised we’re still playing, I expected it totally.

“We’ve had National Lottery funding, so to just stop seems to make a mockery of it.

“But then, you’ve got to remember that funding was just for the first three months.

“We’ve been playing since January 1 with only the funding we generate from streams on matchdays.

“Yes, when you play Hartlepool at home and Notts County at home you get great streaming numbers because you get an awful lot of people from away watching it.

“But when you play Bromley at home you don’t make a huge amount of money, and there’s still costs with putting the game on.”

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White is eager to see what the seven clubs who voted against a continuation of play will do.

He said: “The more interesting thing is (what) the seven clubs are going to do.

“We already know that Dover are not going to play any more games unless there’s funding.

“The other clubs that voted the other way will be looking to see what happens to Dover.

“The one thing we don’t want to see, if they expunged Dover’s results – which I think is what’s being mooted – it would be really unfair beyond all belief if they were then thrown out of the league.

“But I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. It would be totally unjust.”