MANY talking points have arisen from the abrupt suspension of all sport in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

One that has got people talking the most is: How do we complete the season?

A likely option is to resume the campaign whenever the suspension is lifted and finish it later in the year, while a more drastic option is to void the season completely.

But a third option is to end the season with the league tables as they are now, a move that would be music to the ears of Truro City, Helston Athletic and Penryn Athletic, who led their respective divisions at the time of the suspension on March 16.

Such a move would be highly controversial, but it got us thinking: What would have happened had this been applied to previous campaigns?

The Packet took a look back at the 2018/19 season, comparing the final tables with the tables as they stood on March 16, 2019.

Relegation woe

Look away Truro City supporters. If the season had ended on March 16, 2019, the White Tigers would still have been in the National League South.

A poor return of just six points from their last 12 games saw Truro, who were managed by each of Lee Hodges, Leigh Robinson and Paul Wilkinson over the season, suffer relegation back to the Southern League Premier South, finishing 20th out of 22 teams.

But they would have survived had the season ended in March, with Truro two places and four points above 20th-placed Hungerford Town at that time.

But White Tigers fans can still look on the bright side, knowing they would be in line for an instant return should the season now be over, with Truro occupying top spot in the Southern League Premier South.

Title for Town

Exmouth Town fell agonisingly short of eventual SWPL Premier champions Tavistock last season, finally conceding the title to the Lambs on the final day of the season.

But that crown could have been theirs had the March 16 suspension been imposed last season. Although they had played four more games than Tavistock, Exmouth were ten points clear of the Lambs at that stage.

Falmouth Town would have lost two positions, finishing eighth rather than sixth, while Helston Athletic's 11th position would not have changed.

Fishermen cast adrift

The winners in SWPL Division 1 East and Division 1 West - Stoke Gabriel and Liskeard Athletic - would have been unchanged, but Porthleven's end-of-season collapse would have been avoided had the season ended in March.

The Fishermen were two points off leaders Liskeard on March 16, but just three points the remaining five games saw them a full 19 points behind the Blues and 13 behind Mousehole, who were four points behind them in March.

Penryn pipped

Penryn Athletic's Combination League campaign suffered a similar fate to Exmouth's.

Harry Pope's side finished just two points behind Perranporth last season, but were two points ahead of the same side on March 16.

But much like Truro, Athletic will not be too fussed now as they would be crowned champions of the new St Piran League West as things stand.

Trelawny League

Penwith Exiles would have been crowned champions of the Trelawny League Premier in either scenario last season, but bottom side Halsetown would have been spared the drop, having been three points clear of Illogan RBL reserves in March.

Threemilestone won the Division 1 title by five points from Rosudgeon, but would have been cursing their lack of games on the board had the season stopped on March 16. They were just one point behind Wendron United thirds at that point, although the Dron had played four more games.

Similarly, second-placed Rosudgeon were back in fifth at that point by virtue of having played fewer games than almost every other team in the division.

That trend continued in Division 2, which was won by Ruan Minor, who went the season unbeaten.

Despite going the whole campaign without losing a game, they would only have finished third had the season come to a halt on March 16.

Ruan were six points behind then-leaders Frogpool & Cusgarne with three games in hand. Frogpool ended up finishing second and eight points behind the champions.

Division 3 would have been unharmed, with Praze five points clear of second-placed Perranwell reserves on both March 16 and at the end of the season.

Threemilestone reserves would have claimed the Division 4 title regardless of when the season came to a close, such was their dominance last season.