COVID-19, lockdowns, and the cricket season

20 Aug

Friday 20 August

It's day 3 in the latest level 4 lockdown and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you. There'll be no fantastic revelation here but in these uncertain times, I wanted to let you know that our thoughts are with you and your whanau, your businesses, our community.

Cricket and training during lockdowns

We have updated information on our website regarding what we can and can't do at the different lockdown levels, most of it guided by Auckland Cricket, NZ Cricket and the team at Sport NZ. The Sport NZ website is an outstanding source of information on sport and activity at different lockdown levels, as is the government COVID-19 website.

Fundamentally, at level 4 there is no organised sport; zero, zilch, zip, nada. Stay home in your bubble, go out and exercise but avoid contact with anyone else. At level 3 you can do a bit more but it is not until a lockdown level below 3 that any organised sport can happen.

Last season and our learnings

We had an amazing run last summer, we had one semi-rain affected Saturday in October, the opening weekend, and one Saturday was cancelled due to COVID-19 when Auckland moved to Level 3 on Saturday 27 February. I was at the supermarket stocking up on some final goodies for the Super 6s when that announcement came through, more on that below.

We have some quite detailed Return to Play plans and a fairly decent stockpile of ~~toilet rolls~~ hand sanitiser along with plenty of signage. We are re-reviewing our plans and procedures and at the same time, confident we can 'turn cricket on' as soon as the powers that be drop the lockdown levels below 3 and give us permission.

What happened to the Super 6s

Communication on this has probably been lacking, rest assured, we haven't swallowed your dollars and run. We did gift Auckland City Mission our perishable goods but we accrued the income from you our members and our sponsors to this financial year and plans are underway for the 2021 Super 6s this November - block Sunday 7 November in your diaries. If this date doesn't work and you want your money back, just let us know. If this date now does work and you want to be involved, watch this space, there will be more information coming, our coordinators are Super 6s experts and you'll hear more soon enough.

Registrations - winter academies and season fees

We faced a similar situation last season, not that I want to get used to this, but rest assured we are conscious of every dollar you spend with us. With regard to the winter academies that we can't hold this weekend due to this COVID-19 lockdown and any other weekend affected by COVID-19, we will credit these sessions onto your child's account. We will do this once, at the end of September, not that I want to tempt fate that there will be more than one weekend affected. If the uncertainly of it all makes you nervous or if you just want to drop out of these, please call out, we will refund you. Do also call out if you don't want the credit, we can make it a donation, thank you.

For season registration fees, this is a little harder. We need your registrations to ensure we have teams for your child(ren) to play in and Auckland Cricket needs this information to put together and run meaningful competitions. No one has a view on how much of the season will be disrupted by COVID-19 but what I can commit to is this, we will do everything we can to maximise the opportunities for cricket to happen. So my recommendation is that you register, take advantage of our Early Brid Pricing, and look forward to another summer of cricket.

If you have any questions or want to discuss registrations, coaching, training programmes, coming onboard as a sponsorship, becoming a coordinator or just yarn about all things sport, give me a bell or drop me a line.

Lastly, stay well and be kind to everyone.

Kind regards

Your team at Grafton United Cricket Club

Privacy | Site Map | Staff Login

Simple Club Management By Friendly Manager