COVID-19 UPDATE

Firstly, I hope everyone is healthy and you, your friends and families are dealing with the COVID-19 Coronavirus situation as well as can be expected.

I’m writing to confirm that Football Federation Australia last night made a national decision to continue the suspension of all football competitions and activities until 31 May 2020. This is in line with the latest Federal Government tightening of measures around social distancing and gatherings and is consistent across all levels of football. It has some impacts for us as a club that I have outlined, below.

FOOTBALL

Firstly, we want to make our players, coaches and members continue to feel part of the Club.

All of our programs are suspended, they have not been cancelled.

Our children spend a lot of their time at Cromer Park doing what they love so we feel it is important to remain connected to them to assist in filling the gap.

So, our Technical Directors (Andrew Christiansen and Sharon Egger) and their coaching teams have been putting in place videos, programs and activities to try to keep the players mentally and physically engaged and connected to football. We’re getting very positive feedback on this.

I encourage you to take a look and get involved with how we’re doing this as there is no doubt that football will be a key driver to keep our children as happy and connected as possible during this time. It will also help us get started when we resume playing and training.

It is important that we respect the Federal Government rules around gatherings of no more than two people as stopping the spread of COVID-19 is still a priority for all Australians.

While we are sending out programs and videos, it is not appropriate or responsible to be doing this in groups.

For anyone needing physio, a reminder that Steve Felsher is looking after players with long term injuries and continues to be available on 0421 063 587. He is seeing injured players by appointment.

FINANCIAL

From a financial perspective, Manly United is not immune to the need to tighten its belt and together with the Board, we have made some tough decisions about current expenditure and the right level of resourcing for this period. While that has had an impact on our own staff, we are reviewing how we provide them with support through the Federal Government’s Jobkeeper scheme, among other measures.

The approach we’re taking is to ensure we do our best to look after our people (players, parents, coaches and volunteers) while ensuring we all have a football club to come back to later this year.

A crucial part of this period is also to work with all levels of the game (FFA, Football NSW, the MWFA and its 17 clubs) to make sure that we can preserve the sport as we know it and we are also liaising with all levels of Government to ensure football is preserved in the various rescue and stimulus packages.

All of those bodies have taken drastic steps to cut costs throughout this period and sadly many people (especially at Football NSW and FFA) have been stood down from their jobs.

This is hitting all levels of our sport but the unity this is driving within the football community is encouraging.

We are also acutely aware that with each week that we are away from playing brings with it reasonable questions about what we can do to ensure all players and families feel like they have been able to get as much out of the 2020 football season, as possible.

Together with the Board and the Technical Directors, we are looking at various possibilities, including extending the season from a training and/or playing perspective, extra sessions and of course in the worst case scenario reviewing the registration fees.

Until we know the final impact of the disruption, we will not have a definitive answer but we’d like you to know that it is a key part of our planning and thinking. We are not a club without you, our members, and that is front and centre of any decision being made.

On behalf of the Club, I want to re-iterate our thanks and support as we face up to this unprecedented global health and financial challenge. We hope our players and their families, coaches and volunteers continue to work together so we can get back on the pitch as soon as possible in the best possible shape.

Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any issues or questions.

Regards

David Mason

Please view for more information: Frequently asked questions – MUFC COVID-19 Coronavirus V1