Published 5.30pm 24th June 2021
The following information has been supplied to all club committees and will cover football activities in the Nepean FA District from 24th June 2021 to 1st July 2021.
Due to the restrictions put in place, and in order to reduce the disruption to football as far as is possible, we have put the following measures in place.
Readers should understand the following complications to understand how we have managed the current restrictions. Blue Mountains, Wollondilly, and Hawkesbury districts are all WITHIN Greater Sydney area, but are OUTSIDE of the Sydney Metropolitan area. This anomaly complicates matters for Nepean & Macarthur Associations in particular, so things need to be slightly different for us than for the rest of Sydney.
The basic info is as follows (we’ve edited out what doesn’t apply to sport):
To protect the people of NSW from the evolving COVID-19 outbreak, new restrictions will be introduced for Greater Sydney from 4pm today for one week.
Following updated health advice from the Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant about the growing risk to the community, the following restrictions will be introduced for Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour;
- Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces, and at organised outdoor events;
- Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed (including club rooms);
- The one person per four square metre rule will be re-introduced for all indoor and outdoor settings;
- If you live or work in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas, you cannot travel outside metropolitan Sydney (Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury or Wollondilly LGA’s) for non-essential travel.
How this will impact your club or team;
TRAINING
- Players, team officials, trainers, parents who would normally attend training, and who live or work in City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas CANNOT attend training or games at any club located in the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains or Wollondilly LGAs. These 3 councils are considered outside of the Sydney Metropolitan area and fall within the restricted areas regarding non essential travel. Travel and attendance at training and at matches is consider non essential.
- Masks MUST BE worn, even outdoors, by anyone not engaged in strenuous activity. This will apply to those who are substitutes, coaching, managing, training, spectating. These roles are considered non strenuous activity unless you’re actually on the training surface engaged in the same activity as the players.
- Mask wearing applies to all people aged 13 & above except where medical exemptions apply.
- Social distancing between people from different households must be maintained on sidelines.
- We have recommend that all clubs close their change rooms unless the size of the change room doesn’t put you in breach of the 1 person per four sq. metres rule.
CANTEENS
- Mask wearing applies to all people aged 13 & above except where medical exemptions apply.
- 1 person per four sq. metres rule also applies in canteens and in BBQ areas.
- We also recommend that clubs employ all other Covid safe measures such as glove wearing, having hand sanitiser and soap and water available for handwashing etc.
ON MATCH DAYS –
- Club rooms and Changerooms – should be closed to public.
- For club rooms with tables where people can sit and consume food and drinks, if you decide to leave your club room open for this purpose while imposing limits, please ensure that tables and chairs are wiped down in between one party leaving and the next arriving.
- 1 person per four sq. metre rule applies to sidelines.
- Mask wearing applies to all people aged 13 & above except where medical exemptions apply (even on sidelines).
- Social distancing between people from different households must be maintained on sidelines.
FIXTURES
- Non Competition Fixtures (U5 to U11) Can proceed where both teams are from within the same locality. i.e. Blue Mountains v Blue Mountains. Etc. Parents, carers, coaches, managers who work within the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas CANNOT attend games. Please discuss with your teams asap, and forfeit where necessary with as much notice as possible. There will be no forfeit fines to these teams if forfeiting in order to comply with restrictions.
- For non competition teams who are versing a team in the Warradale, Hawkesbury or Blue Mountains districts, unfortunately, your games will need to be cancelled. We encourage clubs/teams to organise a friendly meeting of teams affected once the restrictions are lifted.
- Fixtures from Friday to Thursday 1st July for Competition teams U12 & above will be managed in the following manner;
- To ensure that restrictions are not breached, any fixtures that were set down to be played in the Blue Mountains, Warradale or Hawkesbury clubs will be brought into the Penrith LGA to be played, where possible. Where this isn’t possible due to lack of space, those games will be rescheduled to an alternate date to be advised.
- We are moving all these games to the Penrith LGA, because there are no restrictions on anyone travelling to Penrith, whereas, there are restrictions on people travelling outside of the Sydney Metro area including Blue Mountains, Wollondilly & Hawkesbury. We’re not in a position to poll all players and spectators as to where they live and work to ensure that they don’t reside in one of the restricted areas.
- This move will require the co-operation of all clubs based in the Penrith LGA and will impose more work for these club volunteers. If they’re hosting your game, please show your gratitude and respect to these committees for the extra workload they are carrying. We understand it is not ideal, but it is necessary.
- These measures will be applied to all Nepean FA fixtures including Nepean FA Cup games.
IMPACT ON REFEREES
Regrettably, these measures may cause havoc with Referee appointments. NRG will work as hard as they can to re-appoint as many referees as possible to affected fixtures for this weekend, but we advise all teams to travel with a person who may be able to act in the role of unofficial referee if needed. Don’t forget to take a whistle as part of your kit for this eventuality and host clubs should have several sets of red and yellow cards to use by unofficial referees.
STATE CUP FIXTURES
We received the following email notice from FNSW –
In consideration of the recent COVID-19 restrictions for Greater Sydney, we have taken the position to postpone the scheduled State Cup – Round 4 fixtures and pause the State Cup until further notice.
We identified a number of logistical challenges with the current match schedule in relation to the current COVID-19 restrictions for Greater Sydney. A variety of cross region travel was to be undertaken and with most teams scheduled to play doubles headers this weekend I.E Association game Saturday, State Cup Sunday, the position was taken to postpone the round in working to minimise the football risk.
We will be in contact regarding the updated time lines for the next rounds of the State Cup once we are in a position to do so.
Thank you to all members for your co-operation and understanding in the “flash change” to our circumstances. Enjoy your games this weekend.
Linda Cerone
CEO
Nepean Football Association Inc.
