Update Regarding Training Restart - 16/05/2020

Dear JCFC members,

The City of Joondalup have today updated us in regard to returning to formal training. Whilst the CoJ are still waiting for formal directions from the State Government on how to progress with the lifting of various COVID19 restrictions they have stated they are not in a position to be able to formally consider and approve park bookings. Currently, the City is looking to formalise all ongoing seasonal park bookings from Monday 1 June (date still to be finalised). This date aligns with the City's initial decision to cancel all park booking until the 31 May and was also based on the initial agreement from a number of State Sporting Associations. Further information about the formalisation of booking from the 1 June onwards will be provided shortly.

The City is aware however that an increasing number of sports have retracted their initial decision and advice to restrict club based activity until the 31st of May. Based on this change, while the City will not be approving bookings, it does not object to the use of its public open space by sporting clubs and their members between now and the 31st of May. As the City will not be approving bookings, sports floodlighting will not be altered for sporting usage until the formal booking approvals re-commence. Currently the City has amended its sports floodlighting to provide a basic level of lighting, allowing for the safe passive use of parks until 8pm.

Over the next few days we will liaise with our coaches, who will in turn be in touch with the players/parents to organise your teams training session. Due to the restricted lighting until the 1st June we will look to utilise Saturday and Sunday daytime sessions. Careful planning will be required to ensure all training is carried out within the guidelines of the State Government and Football West and so we expect that teams will return to training over the next 7 - 14 days.

Keep well and stay safe.

JCFC.

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Message from our Committee - 13/05/2020

Dear JCFC members,

No doubt you have heard the news that we are getting close to being able to restart restricted training in groups of 20. Whilst a date of the 18th of May was given by the Premier Mark McGowan on Sunday the City of Joondalup are yet to confirm a date they feel they can safely allow the restart of training. They have recently made the following statement on Social Media...

"The City is evaluating how it can best respond to relaxed COVID-19 restrictions (Phase 2) as announced by Premier Mark McGowan yesterday, which are proposed to come into effect on Monday 18 May. The City's highest priority remains the health and well-being of the community and visitors to the City. More information on the potential reopening of some community facilities, libraries, leisure centres and other community venues will be provided when available."

This was followed by a message to Community Clubs in the City of Joondalup that stated, "There are a range of considerations the City must address before it can safely allow formal activity on or within City managed venues (facilities and parks). It is therefore not expected that use of community facilities will resume from Monday 18 May. The City is continuing to work on a re-opening schedule for all of its facilities and will advise all hirers when a decision has been finalised."

Whist we all keen to get back to training, it's important that we follow the guidelines set by the City. Once we have a restart date we will be in touch.

Keep well and stay safe.

JCFC.

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Message from our Committee - 07/05/2020

Dear JCFC members,

Whilst Football West have advised all football clubs of its approval to resume football activities the City of Joondalup's position remains that its parks and community facilities have not been re-opened for sport and recreation hire at this stage. We belive this is the same for all local councils across Perth. Based on the ongoing changes in directions and advice from Federal and State government the City will consider changes to park closures this week.

Our members health and safety are our first priority and we will not re-start our club activities until advised by the City of Joondalup / State Government that we are able to do so. We will continue to work with the City of Joondalup to ensure that we are in a position to resume formal training when we are advised we can commence.

We have been made aware that some JCFC and other local Clubs players, parents and coaches have met in adhoc social gatherings to undertake activities such as running, dribbling and other limited football activities while adhering to the State Government restrictions on social distancing and gatherings. Whilst we cannot be involved with facilitating this, we believe this is an important step in maintaining the physical and mental health of our members.

Keep well and stay safe.

JCFC.

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Message from our President - 02/05/2020

Dear JCFC members,

We are pleased to announce that Football West have approved the resumption of limited and modified football activities from next week (Mon 4th May).

Football West are to release a set of guidelines over the weekend to ensure Associations and clubs can put in place the necessary measures for the resumption to happen. This will include but will not be limited to restricting training groups to 10 people or fewer; maintaining the social distancing rules and adhering to the relevant WA Government guidelines. Once we have more information, we will deliver this to our members.

Please note, we currently do not have any park bookings which means that team training will only commence once we have parks with lights and a club training schedule has been finalised. We would expect that this will happen during next week with all teams training by the following week.

JCFC will need to ensure we and our members will operate within the rules set out by our governing body. It is important that teams to not take it upon themselves to just turn up at a ground as this could create overcrowding and set us back if reported.

The club will make contact with the Coach/Manager of your team who will in turn contact the players to advice when and where the training for your team will commence.

Football West have also commented and advised regarding the COVIDSafe App: "We recognise that whilst this is a positive step there is a long way to go and we need to play our part as part of the broader WA community. To further aid the fight against COVID-19, Football West supports the Australian Government's COVIDSafe app and encourages all members of the football community to get behind this initiative. The app can be downloaded from the Apple App store and Google Play."

You can tread the full statement here - https://footballwest.com.au/football-activities-set-to-resume/

Please also note that our website will always contain the latest announcements and should be your 1st contact point. https://www.jcfc.com.au/

Personally, it will be great to see our players back on the grounds training and if we all continue to follow guidelines we will hopefully see competition games return very soon,

Keep well and stay safe.

Julian Barley | JCFC President.

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