Following positive discussions with the councils in our region, we have confirmed a start date of Saturday 13th June.

We have also confirmed that the winter season will be extended until September 26th. This gives us a 16 week window with which to run competitions which is a great result all around, we are also considering other avenues to fit in an extra game or two to bring us up to an ‘ordinary’ season. We have worked with Nelson Cricket on this also.

We also advise that some fields may be released back to council sooner than September 26th to give them time to prepare for Summer codes, however we will be able to utilise the remainder of the grounds until the 26th.

Please note that this will also be dependent on advice from the NZ Govt on 25th May on the number of participants that can take part in any ‘group’. In order for football to take place as we are planning above, this number will need to increase to a minimum of 50. Current thinking is that if we continue to trend as we are with our COVID cases, that the number of people allowed in any ‘group’ will increase to 100 as was initially included on level 2 documentation.

We understand there is a lot of work to be done in the few weeks from now until then, with players returning to training in the region over the next week and a lot of work to be done by everyone to plan and prepare to play.

Thankyou for your patience. We will all have to remain vigilant and take personal responsibility to play out part in keeping everyone safe.

Article added: Tuesday 19 May 2020