Good Afternoon to you all.

Well we are now only a few days away from Alert Level 3 and we hope you are still all coping in your bubbles. To be fair Alert Level 3 does not change much for a number of us. It will however be great to get more New Zealanders back to work.

A couple of major updates for you all today.

Chatham Cup and Kate Sheppard Cup

Both of these competitions have been cancelled for the 2020 season. Making this decision now allows all parties to plan with more certainty moving forward and provides a focus on delivering as much football as we can to the whole football community. The NZF Release is attached for your reference.

South Island Tournaments

Mainland Football and Football South also announce today the cancellation of the South island Tournaments for 2020. This is again in recognition of trying to get as much football in as we can along with removing uncertainty around travel and also recognising this would be an extra cost for everyone. Through discussions with a number of parties it was felt this was the best decision for all. We will however be looking at what events we may be able to run on a regional basis as part of our overall offering. Mainland Football and Football South will come back to you all around what we are planning to do.

Planning and Season Start dates

We are As outlined in last week’s update we will not see a start to any competitions until at least Saturday the 30th of May. In essence the season has been postponed until this date. There are no more updates at this stage.

The discussions between major codes as to how we can work together to possibly extend the winter season is in full swing. Again we will come back to you as soon as we have any information around that.

Working together

We are still waiting on the Government, Sport NZ to feedback to the sports what activity we are able to engage in an we work through the Alert Levels. We will be driven by this advice and nothing else.

Wellbeing

Make sure you are keeping active. Get out for walks or runs but remember to stay within your bubble.

Club Questionnaire

A response summary has now gone out to you all. Please make sure you share this with your committees and boards to keep them up to date with the latest information.

Participant Questionnaire

Next week we will be undertaking a questionnaire to our membership base to gain some insights that will also help feed into the process of how we can return to play. Keep an eye out for this in your inbox.

On behalf of the team at Mainland Football please take care of yourselves and your loved ones and remember to be kind!

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

Be strong, be brave, be steadfast.

Julian Bowden

Article added: Thursday 23 April 2020