With roughly a month to go until registrations open, the Goulburn Touch Football Association is currently in the midst of organising the 2020/21 season.
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As one of the most heavily-populated sports in Goulburn, getting the touch competitions together is no mean feat. However, the upcoming season has the added dimension of COVID-19 health regulations to accommodate.
"Everything looks like it's going to go ahead at the moment," association president Kevin Kara said.
"New South Wales Touch have issued a lot of statements about COVID-19 and what the processes are to getting the competition back up and running.
"The way things are going, they'll try to do the right thing. And they've given us guidelines on how to run things."
It is promising news for the many touch fans in town, but there are still a number of hurdles which will need to be overcome for the competitions to run smoothly.
The most prominent such obstacle is the numbers. With as many as two hundred players in some divisions, which range from the Under Sevens through to the senior men and women, Kara expects social distancing to complicate the layout of the competitions.
"We've got about two hundred-plus players in the Under Sevens and it's the same with the Under Nines, Under 11s, Under 13s. We're getting up to seven fields per game and with the junior lot we sometimes get four teams per field," Kara said.
Though the committee has not yet had the chance to meet and discuss solutions, he said that there were several possible options.
It's become a bit of a worry because there's going to be a lot of people around," Kara said.
"Once we figure out how we're going to run things and the best plans to put in place, we might have to look at playing the juniors an extra night, and the men, women, and mixed on different nights."
There will also likely be field marshals on site to ensure play starts and ends promptly, and to remind players to leave as soon as their matches are over.
Touch NSW general manager, Dean Russell, expressed in a statement his excitement that touch was returning, but reminded patrons to adhere strictly to the health guidelines put in place by the state government.
"We must remain vigilant," Russell said.
"The social distancing between individuals at community sporting events MUST be 1.5m - this includes all spectators.
"Failure to adhere to social distancing may cause an immediate review of community sport activity by the Government.
"Just like any game of touch football, when you get the lead, you must defend to win the game. Dealing with this virus is no different. We got into the lead, but now the opposition is hitting back- we need to defend."
The Goulburn Touch Association intends to meet in the coming weeks to discuss its approach to the 2020/21 season. Further details will be announced as soon as possible.
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