Following the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Melbourne, there have been some changes to the rules regarding the conduct of community sport, and therefore changes to the hockey competitions in Victoria.
- There will be no hockey competition in Melbourne metropolitan areas this winter season.
- Hockey Victoria are preparing a proposal for a metropolitan summer competition with a more social focus.
- The Junior State Championships are cancelled for 2020.
- Hockey Victoria’s financial position is “challenging” as costs remain, but income is significantly reduced. Hockey Victoria staff are working on reduced hours. Hockey Victoria has applied for survival funding from government, and will hope for news in late July.
- Junior competitions in regional areas can continue as planned.
What does this mean for Geelong Hockey Association?
The junior competitions will run as planned, beginning on July 18, and concluding on September 19/20. Fixtures will be prepared initially for Round 1 only as we may receive some late team entries. As we want to have as many people playing hockey as possible, these late entries will be accomodated as much as possible.
Full contact training and competition is permitted for junior players only i.e. 18 years and under. Hockey Victoria recommends that a maximum of 32 participants (including coaches) should train on 1/2 pitch.
Matches may include the minimum number of participants required to conduct the match i.e. coach plus team manager plus umpires plus a maximum of 16 players per team.
Spectators are permitted in the facility. However, they should be spread around the facility, with a maximum group size of 10 people. Any person acting as a parent or carer supporting a person with a disability to participate is not included in the group of 10 limit.
For senior players, training must be non-contact, so that all participants must remain 1.5 metres apart. Previous advice allowed full contact training for senior players from July 13, but this is no longer correct.
For senior players, full contact competition is not permitted at this stage. This will be reviewed at the end of July.
This means that the planned start for the senior competition (July 25) will be delayed. We are hopeful that it will still be possible to conduct a season of 8 to 10 weeks for senior teams. As an example – a competition beginning on August 16, which includes a midweek round, and finishes on October 24/25, would provide 10 rounds.
Advice to Participants and Supporters
- Please ensure that you follow all the guidelines, restrictions and rules which are currently in place.
HV_Return_to_Hockey_Guidelines_July 10
July 10 Regional-Community-Sport-To-Stay-Non-Contact-To-Save-Lives
GHA Return to Play guidelines June 1
- Please download the COVIDSafe app
- If you have concerns that your participation will cause a health risk for yourself or your family, or a risk to other participants, please reconsider your participation.
The Geelong Hockey Association will do all in its power to minimise the risk to participants and supporters. However, equal responsibility rests with each and every one of us who love our hockey.
