No Jump Start for LGFNC Season

President of Leitchville-Gunbower Football Netball Club, Gary Kervin spoke with ‘The Bridge’ following on from the announcement of the cancellation of the 2020 Heathcote & District Football and Netball League season last week due to COVID-19 which called it a game for the local teams.

The 2020 season was to commence the first weekend in April but with uncertainty of how the game was going to play out under social distancing measures and gatherings plus other implications leading up to the game’s start, the final decision was made and welcomed by the club.

 “Right from the very start of the season, I could just see how hard it was going to be to organise anything. Without any deadlines, or nothing set in concrete, it was getting harder and harder to get up and running.

“This year, we were to field three football teams with the seniors, 2nds and Under 17’s and in a separate league Under 14, and Under 12. Netball teams were to include A Grade, A Reserve, B Grade and B Reserve, an Under 17, Under 15, Under 13 and Primary.

“We had no plans in place for training because we couldn’t train. It was all up in the air with waiting for the government to say we could. 

“The training regimes that were in place were unworkable in our opinion.”

This season LGNFC had engaged a new coach Cam Van Florestein, recruited from Melbourne to take on the role at the club and was committed to coming on board for the new year.

“He had made a big commitment travel wise to coach us with training sessions and Saturday games and driving from Melbourne each time.

 “He had a lot of miles on the road in front of him but he was keen and wanted a bit of rural football.

“Things were going along as they should have been, then everything just stopped.

“We had a big turnover for the club with a very young developing list coming through.

“When the news came through about COVID-19, there was nothing else we could do other than ask them to keep themselves in good nick and keep running.

The netballers have been doing challenges at home, and at the courts on their own, but we couldn’t do the same for the footballers. Things ground to a halt pretty quickly.

“We still needed more restrictions to be lifted before anything could happen, so understand the decision made to cancel the season for the league.

“The restrictions on and off the field made it too difficult to work for the players heading into near half the season. 

There were indications of a two week lead up for the players and also for the club if anything was to get off the ground, but for the club this was too critical to have a very short pre-season lead in.

“From my point of view as President for two years and on the committee forever, the build-up to even get to Round 1 is months long. Three months of pretty hard work and Round 1 is the pinnacle of the committee because everything would flow from there. 

That also goes across the board from catering and sponsors. It takes months to sort out. How was this going to work?

“I’m pretty comfortable with the decision that they pulled the pin.

“The players build up wouldn’t have been right, the club, the financials wouldn’t be right and still no guarantee of crowds which Is your bread and butter for a profitable year.

“Every day that passed was getting more unworkable for me.

“We are still in the process of working out how we can train for general fitness but we are still have problems with following all the protocols, regardless of no season.

“Even if there was something, we would find it hard to tick all of the boxes.

“I guess now in 12 months’ time players could be anywhere in the country, so this will be tricky to see what’s down the road. That’s always the joys of country football clubs though.”

The impact on local businesses have been felt through COVID-19 and with no season in sight this year, some may be impacted more than others.

“Businesses from both towns have been great supporters including both butchers who are very good sponsors, and the bakery for our pies, pasties and bread.

“The pubs in both towns are frequented on Thursdays and Saturdays for meals and functions and this would also contribute to their bottom line as well. 

“Now that we have something definite with the decision for the season, we are looking at the players for next year to see who will be around.”

For Gary as father of three kids, the busy weekend sporting run with netball and football has also come to a standstill but as a dairy farmer, his day to day life hasn’t changed much at all.

“It’s a pretty self–isolated job as it is and would see my mates on a Saturday, but not at the moment. It is business as usual on the farm, without the sporting criteria.

“The big draw card for me was the social side with community football. It’s that outlet for all those blokes who don’t get out and don’t see too many people while on the farm. The girls also get together every weekend which is great too.

“With the no crowds, no football seeming to be the theme throughout all the clubs in the league, we couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for this season but hopefully next year everything will be back to normal.