I had hoped to be able to bring you some more positive news regarding the resumption of action but unfortunately, as it stands, that is not possible.
Many of you may have seen that some leagues have either announced their fixtures or that they will be announcing them, the East Region of the SJFA has, in our opinion, correctly delayed any announcement at present until a definite start date has been approved.
It was announced that friendly games would start on September 12th and competitive games on October 1st, these were indicative dates. The date for friendly games was not confirmed until last Thursday for definite, while October 1st is still only indicative at present. In addition, the extra restrictions around the West of Scotland, and rising figures elsewhere, means that the Scottish Government is unlikely to ratify October 1st in the short term.
As it stands, players are not allowed to use dressing rooms or showers and supporters are not permitted. At Laing Park we are fortunate to have a facility that we believe could accommodate two teams, socially distanced, by utilising all the space available, relatively easily. We also feel that our matchday protocol would make it possible to allow limited supporters in to games as well. As a club we have spent money of sanitation equipment, signage and safety equipment to make this happen, as well as a lot of time working on diagrams, risk assessments and protocols and as a result we are disappointed not to be able to give you good news.
We have everything in place and are ready to go and just waiting for that red light to turn green.
As a club we would find it impossible to start competitive games without supporters in the ground, to put it bluntly we need the money coming in to function if we are playing competitive games.
I would love to be able to say when the restart will be but the honest answer is I don’t know, if I was to hedge my bets I would be surprised if that was 10th October or even the 17th October after that I don’t know but I hope I am wrong we all need football back, not just from a financial point of view but psychologically, it is an escape that right now, we could all do with I am sure.
