As we await a decision regarding the commencement of the 2020 VAFA season, the club continues to have strong numbers at training.
Some 40 community footy leagues have now called off their respective seasons, with the VAFA (and also the SFNL) among seven leagues holding out hope of playing in 2020.
While things were looking good, the recent spike in covid-19 cases in Victoria has cast further doubt on our prospect of a season. The VAFA Board is set to meet on July 6 to make a final call if we’ll proceed or not. A decision cannot be made beyond this date if the season is to start by August 1.
UPDATE: The VAFA has brought forward the July 6 meeting to this week following the new Victorian restrictions put in place.
A number of factors will be taken into consideration if the season is to proceed, including assuring the safety and wellbeing of the VAFA community, the financial viability and sustainability of clubs, burden on volunteers, legal liability, possibility of a compromised season and further Covid-19 outbreaks impacting some competitions.
The club now has 141 players registered for the season across our five senior men’s and women’s teams and numbers continue to be strong at training – with an average of almost 50 players per night and around 20-25 women.
The club continues to work hard to ensure it is a safe environment for our players and officials. Training is run as 2 x 45 minute sessions, with players registering for sessions to ensure we know who trains when. Players sanitise before and after sessions, and footballs are also sanitised before and after each session.
The South Metro Junior Football League season is set to commence on July 12, meaning our many junior teams will be in action from that date which will be great to see. AFL Victoria recently released the Return to Play Protocols (RTP) – you can see the document here.
Regardless of if we have a VAFA season or not, the club still has numerous outgoings – for example, every club must pay 25% league affiliation fees, even if we don’t get a start. We thank everyone who has contributed financially to the club during these times.
Thanks to the 42 paid-up 2020 Club Members for your amazing support! The following people have signed up since the last update: Denis Flynn, Kevin McCarthy, Janine Carnovale, Peter Wright, and Max, Ava and Joanne Greenway. Being the last day of the financial year, it isn’t too late to buy a club membership for yourself or your business – simply jump onto the Rovers Online Shop here.
When we gain access to the Wright-Scarlett Pavilion at Boss James Reserve and are able to safely accommodate people within it for a meal and drinks, we plan to put on some sort of function so the Rovers community can come together. Club Members will be given priority access. Stay tuned for further details.
This year is the 25th anniversary of the drought-breaking 1995 Senior Premiership and with the restrictions in place, it appears likely we’ll need to postpone our planned reunion luncheon to next year. We do however plan to stream a replay of the match on Facebook and YouTube at some point in the near future.
The online club raffles have also been a great initiative and while we’ve had a break for a couple of weeks, we’re back up and running this week. Buy some tickets here and the prizes will be drawn this Thursday at 8pm live on Facebook.
The weekly Hampton Rovers Podcasts continue and have been great to listen to. If you’re yet to tune in, do yourself a favour! There’s now seven episodes available – featuring Steve Anderson, Sam Care, Daniel Corp & Kyle Pinto, Bianca Lenarcic, Will Walker, Anthony Quon and Christian Carnovale – hosted by Josh Pavlou and James Prosser. Stay tuned for this weeks episode.
You can listen to every Podcast episode on the Rovers website here or on any popular podcast app/platform – simply search for ‘Roverland‘ on Apple Podcasts (on your iPhone/iPad/Mac), Spotify, or Google Podcasts.
Today is your last chance to donate to the 2020 Salvo’s Red Shield Appeal. This year we went online for a ‘digital doorknock’ and you can donate here.
Continue to take care and we’ll have another update next week.
Gary Nash
Senior President
