Trials and COVID19 Update

4 years ago

Randwick Rugby's position

Dear Supporters,

The weekend got off to a flyer with amazing trial results against Manly and then the Corona Virus tidal wave hit us all and its potential impact on our society is huge.

Winning Trials vs Manly!
Firstly, the good news. The season got underway on Saturday when we hosted 4 grade and 3 colts matches against Manly at Latham Park, in very cold and wet conditions.

Congratulations to our players and on the great trial results - 7 wins from 7 games is a fantastic start to the season and testament to the huge efforts invested in pre-season training by the players, coaches, S&C, volunteers and staff. Outstanding work all!

Unfortunately, we lost our talented First Grade winger Josh Gordon to a season ending injury. We wish Josh all the best as he recovers from surgery last night.

Corona Virus Season Impact
Sadly, now the bad news. As you would be acutely aware, the world has been turned upside down with the escalation of the Corona Virus (COVID– 19) and the massive efforts to contain its spread. It’s a situation so fluid it is changing almost by the hour.

As can be seen from yesterday’s timeline of events below, managing it in a rugby sense is a moveable feast.

Randwick DRUFC Corona Virus Actions – 11am yesterday.
A wise man once said “that you can only control the controllables”. Without clear direction from the game’s ruling bodies, yesterday morning the Randwick DRUFC Board Executive proactively made the decisions outlined below to cover the next 14-day period.

Across the district we considered these to be in the best interests of our players, coaches, volunteers, staff, sponsors, fans and their loved ones.

  • All training sessions for Randwick Grade and Colts teams will be suspended until further notice.
  • All training for our junior clubs and women’s teams will also be suspended until further notice.
  • The Latham Park gym is also closed until further notice to all users.
  • Our upcoming trial matches against Warringah on March 21 and Norths on March 28 were cancelled.
  • Suspension of junior club trials and competition commencements.
  • The club administration office at Coogee Oval will be mostly closed and the majority of staff will work remotely from home.
  • No face to face rugby meetings, presentations or training courses to be conducted.

Our key strategy was to focus on isolation and containment and to quote our very profound club coach Morgan Turinui “we want to be on the right side of history here”.

For Randwick as a club, our main objective is to ensure we do everything in our power to keep our own people and our broader community as safe as possible and minimise any risks. Rugby outcomes in all honesty were a secondary concern in this environment.

Rugby Australia Corona Virus Announcement - 6pm last night
In the fluid spirit of managing this beast, Rugby Australia (RA) at 6pm last night announced the following Corona Virus actions, with the following impacts on club and community rugby:

  • The suspension of ALL rugby activities until May 1st at the earliest – which includes playing, training and any face to face meetings, events or courses.
  • Grade, Colts, Women’s, Juniors, Minis or any competitions at all for that matter cannot start prior to May 2ndat the earliest.

Read the full Rugby Australia (RA) release online at: https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2020/03/16/coronavirus-community-rugby-shutdown

The scope and practicality of this is not crystal clear, but it’s the same principles as Randwick planned to implement, but over a much longer period of 6 weeks. Simply it’s a ‘watch this space’ exercise, as no doubt much is still to be understood, learnt and yet too happen.

RA says weekly reviews of the situation will be conducted and any changes will be communicated to the clubs. At least there is an approximate timeframe for us to work to and hope that we could get back on the field at some point in 2020.

Until that time, at least we will hold a 7-0 season winning record!

Regardless of how it all pans out and putting it into perspective, rugby is only a game and it’s so far from the main game in the global scale of this pandemic.

The most important thing is to keep yourself and your family safe during one of the most tumultuous periods ever in world history. Up the Wicks and take care!

Cheers
Mark

Mark Harrison
General Manager
Randwick DRUFC

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