4th March 2020
Dear Hills Football Family,
RE: Winter Football 2020 Update.
As the reality of COVID-19 continues to unfold, our thoughts are with you, our participants, your families, the football community, and the broader community at large.
The purpose of this Circular is to provide you with a further update in relation to the steps that Hills Football is taking in response to COVID-19.
On 17 March 2020, FFA issued Circular 20-06 to all members and participants, which confirmed that all sanctioned grassroots football activity in Australia was to be suspended until 14 April 2020.
As a result of stricter measures imposed by the Federal Government and State and Territory Governments since 17 March 2020, and after consultation with the Member Federations of FFA and the National COVID-19 Working Committee, FFA advises that the suspension of sanctioned grassroots football activity in Australia will remain in place until at least 31 May 2020. As such, Hills Football and its member clubs must follow these sanctions.
For your information, we have remained in constant contact with our parent body, Football NSW, during this entire process. We also remain in regular contact with our member clubs of the Hills.
As the largest participation sport in The Hills District – and indeed Australia – we all have a collective responsibility to take action to help slow the spread of COVID-19. I understand the impact this has on you all, and I appreciate your ongoing cooperation and support. Football is a large ecosystem and we cannot underestimate the importance of the role each of us play within that system, and the impact our actions might have on the game as a whole. Further information of this can BE FOUND HERE.
To ensure we can all continue to enjoy the game we love when football does recommence, we need to keep our Clubs strong and operating, and they need to know the community (you) has their back. Our sport as a whole – and our football clubs in particular – have always played a pivotal role in our community; acting as facilitators of health and wellbeing whilst being a cornerstone in the creation of social cohesion. We, as a local community, must ensure we do everything we can to ensure the long term viability of our Clubs .
Whilst many questions remain unanswered, we can take some comfort in the following.
The 2020 Winter Football Season:
As it stands, football is not cancelled; rather suspended. We here at Hills Football still hold an optimistic view that we will still be able to play Winter football – in some capacity – this season. We have to stay positive about something, right? Our assurance to our players and our clubs[ is that should we get the green light, we will do everything humanly possible to ensure we play some type of football this year. In the coming days and weeks, we will liaise with all member clubs to explore a few scenarios to make this happen.
Registration Fees:
Many are wondering what will happen to your registration fees that you have paid thus far.
Upon registering through play football, you were given a breakdown as to where your fees go. This is broken in to four components.
- Club Fee – This generally covers items such as, but not limited to, Uniforms, Equipment, Ground Hire, Club Administration, and Maintenance
- Association Fee – This generally covers items such as but not limited to Referees Fees, Competition Management, Coach Education, Club Support, and Game Development
- Football
NSW (FNSW) Fee – This generally covers items such as, but not limited to, State
Coach Education, State Associations Support, State Referee Education. However
the be bulk of this fee covers your insurance.
- Insurance covers: Player Injuries, Public Liability, Directors and Administrators Indemnity.
- Football Federation Australia (FFA) Fee – This generally covers items such as, but not limited to, PlayFootball registration systems and support, National Marketing, National Teams support (Matildas & Socceroos).
As an organisation, Hills Football cannot provide any information on behalf of the operations – or refunds – of the FFA and FNSW. However, both organisations have recently announced major cost cutting exercises, including standing down of a majority of their staff members. A statement in regards to the refunds on the FNSW and FFA portions of your registration fees can be found HERE in the recently published FAQS document.
Hills Football, along with many other Associations, have stressed the utmost urgency for answers from our parent body. I can say that the team at FNSW have worked tirelessly these past two weeks, and in my opinion, have done an amazing job to get us to where we are today. Whatever your feelings are towards the organisation, it is important to understand the immense pressure they face during this unprecedented period of events.
Hills Football can only make comment on the Association portion of your fees.
Hills Football has also made significant cost cutting measures to ensure we keep the viability of the organisation intact. Unfortunately, these measures have included the necessity of standing down some staff members; with all remaining staff taking considerable pay cuts for an indefinite period of time. We have also been granted rental reprise on our offices and removed all non-essential costs. Hills Football will be working on a bare-bones budget in order to keep the lights on and scrape through until we can get back onto the pitch.
Hills Football runs on a financial year spanning Jan 1 through until Dec 31, yet we receive the bulk of our income – via registration fees – around April. Hills Football ran full operations from Jan 1 through until mid-March before this pandemic hit, and had committed to the significant spend required to run a competition of 13,000 players. This includes: Competition Management Software, Referee Management Software, Marketing, Equipment, Amenities, and basic necessities required to run all organisations. As such, a high proportion of the Association component of your fees has already been spent getting your season up and running.
The next issue is your Active Kids Voucher. Many players under 18 this year paid $100 of their total fees via the Active Kids Grant. What I can confirm is that the NSW Government has mandated under no circumstances will any parent be able to redeem this voucher for cash. What we are unsure of just yet, is if the NSW Government will request these funds to go back to them, or if they are able to remain within the sport of Football. As it stands this decision is “under review” from the NSW Office of Sport.
The final complication is the clubs portion of your fees. Most clubs have already outlaid significant funds to purchase uniforms, equipment, ground maintenance, field hire, and many other expenses in preparation for the year[.
What are our saving graces?
There are a few options on the table that could positively benefit any possible chance of a refund for you. These include:
- Insurance. CHUBB, the insurer of Football in Australia have an extremely technical and in depth insurance policy. In layman’s terms, our sport owes CHUBB 4x instalments this calendar year. Should we not be able to get onto the pitch, we are not required to pay a portion of the liability thus retaining funds into our sport. Our sport still has to pay a portion of this liability though as we must ensure our clubs retain public liability (required to hire council fields), administrators indemnity cover, and player injury cover for the many players who have already sustained injuries in the short pre-season we had.
- Government stimulus. FNSW has applied to the NSW Government a significant stimulus package to ensure our sport remains as strong as you know it today. We are hopeful to receive some stimulus.
- FIFA Stimulus. FFA has applied to FIFA for an urgent stimulus package in order to ensure our sport remains as strong as you know it today.
At this stage, these are all applications and there is no guarantee in receipting any of the above.
With all of the aforementioned information, I’m sure you can understand the near impossible task it is for any of the 4 levels of governance to give an accurate indication of what type of refund will be available. All we can promise is that we will do everything we possibly can, to ensure that if we are unable to take the pitch this year, the refund available will be as large as feasible, without crippling the sport. Hills Football, and your member club, will be in a far better position come September / October to assess the true damage this pandemic has caused to our sport, and therefore, will be in a better position to determine any potential refunds or credits.
To finish, I’m calling for our community to band as one and stick together during this time. Football is our passion, our joy, and for many, our release from normal life. Once this is all over, 13,000 of you will rely on us to give you some of your outlets back. If we do not have your support, our sport will collapse, and we will not be able to provide you with such.
I sincerely thank each and every club volunteer for taking on the often thankless task that is administering community sport. It is unfortunate that these heroes of the community face a potential backlash thanks to a once in a lifetime crisis that is no fault of their own[AP8] . Please grant them compassion and understanding during this difficult time.
One Community, One Approach.
Kurt Johnson
General Manager – Hills Football
