Hi Gisborne SC Members,
No competitive football for GSC the foreseeable future
Late yesterday I had verbal confirmation from a North West region representative that the Junior and MiniRoos leagues our teams were due to compete in starting this weekend have been postponed for the 6 week lock down period imposed by the State Government. Our Senior teams, who were not due to start until July 25, are also in postponed status.
Alternative options:
On the back of this, the observation that the region in which our club operates has not been locked down and requests from members, the Committee has resolved to investigate alternative footballing plans for the rest of this season that we can offer to our membership instead. They include:
approaching FV to discuss the possibility of entering teams into the Bendigo league (which will commit to only after consulting each team individually to confirm their interest in an opportunities FV can arrange). The Bendigo league began last weekend and have not been postponed due to state government restrictions
running intra-club tournaments on weekends (and ceasing midweek training to save on lighting costs - which average about $70 per night)
continuing to train as normal and possibly augment with coaching clinics and specialist external coaches for Junior and MiniRoos sides where we have access to funds for explicitly these reasons (I believe generally conditional sponsorship agreements)
Once these offerings have been fleshed out a bit more and approximately costed we can offer them on a team by team basis, via managers and coaches, for their consideration. In parallel we'll prepare an approximate cost incurred per member to date (lights, kit/uniform, registration, professional training, ground rent, etc) to establish what the club can afford to refund if parents or players prefer that option. Please note: we have no control or say in whether the FFA/FV portion of your fees will be refunded, this is determined by FFA/FV.
There are a few teams with a small number of players (and coaches) from lock down areas who are unable to take any options anyway and for those people we understand that cancelling their involvement with club activities this season is the only realistic option for them.
We understand this season has been an almighty drag and in some cases people just want to cut and run and we sympathise with that. However because the club is a not-for-profit organisation, and our budget set late in 2019 reflects this, it would go broke if everyone did that. Therefore we want to devise an offer that still enables everyone to participate in football activities, providing our members with value for money and prevents putting the club into administration. Administration costs will need to be paid out first (majority of this has been already been paid in preparation for the season) and conditional funds where not yet touched get returned to donors, sponsors etc.
Refunds:
In relation to refunds, as per above the club simply cannot afford to refund all members in full. The club would collapse. It was not in a good financial position at the end of last year* and the directors are working hard to correct that but it's really not a quick job. The COVID pandemic has only made that even more difficult.
As Directors of the club, all of whom are unpaid by it, we are obliged to do what they can to avert insolvency and administration. I remind you of who the Directors of the club are below, noting that the majority are extremely new, still getting to grips with how the club is run and financed, what it's assets and liabilities are and are trying our level best to get it through this very tricky time solvent.
If anyone wants to look in depth at the financial records of the club, Treasurer Mikki Maheras is happy to accommodate at some point**. I know it's cliched to say this but cooperation, tolerance and a bit of space to do this is really appreciated. As a community club we promise we'll do all we can to ensure that longer term, nobody misses out.
Thanks,
Richard Smart
Vice-President
Directors:
Mel Paradiso - President (1st year), Director 2nd year, 4 years member of the club
Richard Smart - Vice President (1st year), Director 1st year, 5 years member of the club
Kathy Van Emerick - Secretary (3 days), Director 1st year, >5 years member of the club
Mikki Maheras - Treasurer (1st Year), Director 1st year, 2 years member of the club
Paul Gibson - Assistant Secretary (1st Year), Director 1st year, >5 years member of the club
Olga Bartasek - Registrar (1st Year), Director 1st year, >5 years member of the club
* Financial situation at the end of last year refers to the shed project that ran over budget. Under normal, non-pandemic, circumstances this would have corrected itself.
** Please note: this information is only available for current Gisborne SC Members and must be kept confidential.
