Following the recent government announcement of a nationwide lockdown from 5 November until 2 December we share your disappointment around the temporary suspension of all grassroots football activity.
For confirmation all training and matches are now postponed. We will wait (with you) to hear updates as they happen but anticipate activities to fully restart from 3 December, within the guidelines set out in our Covid Safe plan.
Following the first lockdown the club committee took the decision to suspend the £18 monthly installments and refund subs to those who had paid their membership in full for season.
To ensure we could restart in July the club volunteers have worked tirelessly to get football activity started. This includes the following:
· Covid Risk Assessments written and implemented for each venue
· PPE packs purchased, packaged, and issued to each team
· Covid essential equipment (e.g. sanitizer, signage, equipment cleaning solution) purchased for each venue access point
· Track and trace system set up
· Every player registration processed
· League and FE registration fees paid
· Pitches booked, marked, and hire fees paid
Before our annual subscriptions were due for the current season we all benefitted as members from these actions which led to the players enjoying the restart effectively free of charge for July and August. Pre-season friendlies also took place without subscriptions.
The club is not set up to run as a business so every penny taken from us all as members stays within the club and can only be spent within the club. All of our coaches, committee, and volunteers pay the same subscription (£216 or £18 pm) for their children, or at the reduced rate for those with siblings.
Regrettably there are an extremely small minority of members who still have outstanding subs. The committee have an obligation to chase this on behalf of all members, and will be doing so over the coming weeks.
In response to this latest government announcement the club committee met at short notice to discuss and agree the best response for our members.
The decision taken is that we will suspend all payments due for November and issue £18 refunds to those who pay up front. The club will incur some cost for the games played on Sunday 1 November but we feel the best interests of our members is to suspend payments once again over this difficult time.
Following some feedback from our coaches we understand that some people will welcome the saving and others want to continue paying. With that in mind we have decided to try and bring some good out of this period. We have decided to set up a just giving page and are asking those that can to donate a suggested minimum of £5 which we will pass on in its entirety to support local families during this difficult time. Hopefully we can make a difference to those families that need help over this period, leading up to Christmas.
The link to donate is here https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/southwoodhamunited-fc?utm_term=BxXnpJkAb
Thank you for your continued support on behalf of each and every one of our future stars – it means a lot.
