13 May 2020
Matthew Cook and I participated in the meeting with SANFL last night and while it was informative, there is still a lot of confusion and questions regarding the way forward.
Some of the main points to consider for the time being in getting prepared to commence training are :
- Do not feel compelled to begin training unless within your club and community, you are ready;
- There is still no date or time in the future when we know games can commence, if at all;
- The feeling from all leagues was sport is unable to commence until we can have spectators, clubs open, canteens etc, this is still some way off as far as anyone can tell;
- If your club is able to meet the guidelines outlined by the SANFL and can demonstrate that to the league by ticking off all items on the checklist then you may commence training after Monday the 18th. If not then clubs cannot sanction or organise training;
- First action is to nominate a COVID Safety officer to the league and this will be recorded and lodged with the SANFL (suggestion from SANFL that this be Club President, but doesn’t have to be). This person will be the key contact with the league and SANFL for any information regarding COVID and the roadmap forward;
- COVID Safety officer to attend online training, webinar on Thursday (tomorrow night 14 May 2020);
- As a league we will endeavour to put together some potential scenarios which might play out if we are to commence a season, bearing in mind we don’t have a start date and this is likely to be late June, early July at the earliest, if at all;
- Insurance questions still to be resolved, but it seems that cover will be in place if clubs follow guidelines to commence training;
- Player transfers will be re-opened on 15th May until June 30th;
- There will be a severe reduction to player payments, potentially to zero match payments, with only travel payments allowed, still to be resolved. SANFL players will not be paid so it is unlikely that community football will be allowed to offer match payments;
- Message was clear that we need to respect these guidelines and be compliant and there will be sanctions for non-compliance and that could the way forward would be compromised if clubs and individuals don’t adhere to the policies.
Matt Cook and I are both of the feeling that the guidelines are quite restrictive and will make it very hard for clubs to comply, but if you feel that you can and are able to follow the procedures then the league and SANFL will be supportive.
We haven’t had much time to digest all this and feel we will need to call a meeting soon as to where clubs see the future and what we should be aiming for. We will be in touch.
In the meantime please go onto the SANFL website for familiarisation with the way forward along with the bulletins provided on our own newspage
https://sanfl.com.au/returntoplay/
Regards
Greg Scholz
Secretary
Last Modified on 14/05/2020 11:15