COVID-19
Chairman Note
Dear Parents and Carers
Can I start by wishing you are all safe and well, staying at home and looking out for one another in these unprecedented times. We are sure to have some tough times for a little while yet.
The FA, leagues and our football club have been as pro-active as possible in mitigating against the risk of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That is not just focussed on the well being and safeguarding of our players, but for you as parents, supporters, coaches and against the risk of spread to those most vulnerable in our community.
The latest update, is that the 2019-20 season has now officially closed. Any remaining league and cup games have been cancelled. This has been a very tough decision and disappointing for all, not least those who may have been in with a chance of silverware this season.
Unfortunately, at the grass roots level, we do not have the options of the top tiers of football to restart in a few months’ time. Our facilities move over to other activities (e.g. cricket), the councils remove posts, clubs will host tournaments, and most importantly you will be hoping to take the children away on a well-deserved summer break (fingers crossed!).
As a club, we have also reached a decision to postpone this seasons presentation night. Again, this was not an easy decision, as for many of us, this is the highlight of the season. The close of the season, and postponement of presentation night, will certainly be disappointing for those teams who may be in their last season. It is fully my intention to have a 2019-20 presentation night, but that may not be until the new season has started.
While the date of the presentation night in mid-June seems a little way off, the preparation and the logistics would start now. For example, coaches would need to be collecting trophies from last season winners, but we currently don’t have any timelines of when we may be able to start that level of social interaction. When all other logistics are taken into account, such as the supply chain for the trophies, the timelines are already at risk.
However, the over-riding consideration is health and well-being. For presentation night, we have between 500 and 600 attendees. It is likely that government guidelines will not have relaxed enough by June for us to hold a gathering of this size, but quite frankly I would not want to risk peoples health in any case.
Therefore, it is felt that the postponement is the right thing to do.
Myself, the management committee and all of our coaches would like to thank-you for your support over this last season. We would not have football if you did not support by taxying your children to games/training, helping out with putting the nets up, collecting subs etc. It is all very much appreciated.
Here's hoping that this unprecedented situation we find ourselves in, is resolved as quick as possible. I wish you all good health.
Please stay at home!
All the very best
Russ Fulford
Churchdown Panthers Chairman