District soccer clubs have been encouraged to prepare to return to action by Football Victoria as the relaxing of coronavirus restrictions draws closer.
In endorsing the Federal Government's National Principles for the Resumption of Sport and Recreation Activities and the Australian Institute of Sport's Framework for Rebooting Sport in a COVID-19 Environment, FV encouraged participants at all levels of the sport to be ready for limited group training in the near future.
While Level A restrictions apply currently (solo training only), the Victorian Government will be ultimately responsible for deciding when Level B (non-contact training in groups of no more than 10) and eventually Level C (full training and competition) restrictions will kick in.
FV chief executive Peter Filopoulos said while no matches would be played before June, teams should start to consider how they ramp things up.
“Our (National Premier League) and community clubs have been absolutely fantastic in the way they have navigated this period. The way the football community has banded together, followed the rules and committed to staying the course during this difficult period has shown the collective strength of our game,” he said.
“Our transition to closing football down was extremely difficult and we know it’s not as simple as flicking a switch — there’s a huge number of issues to consider for every club and no two clubs have the exact same set of circumstances.
“We are in the advanced stages of scenario planning regarding a return to football and have worked through several different competition models at both NPL and community level. We’re looking forward to sharing these with our clubs when we have a clear idea of the resumption date.”