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[admin_ccfc]

Anyone else a bit surprised that we're going ahead with games this weekend? Last I checked, Waltham Forest had the 2nd-highest rate of positive cases in London, with Newham and Hackney not far behind, and London will be in Tier 3 restrictions from Wednesday.

Also, the W1T game on Sunday just gone was postponed because "a few of our players have tested positive" according to the club Twitter.

I get that it should be up to the team committees whether to play or not (and hopefully players feel that they are able to say so if they don't want to), but surely as a club we have a duty of care to the players, staff, volunteers, fans, community, etc. - not least a week before when many might be planning to spend time with family, etc.

I totally agree with you. We should lead by example. There is no postponement, risk of getting the league voided or anything that can justify a rush to games.

In Italy clubs at our level haven't even ever started the 2020/2021 league. It's an issue, but there are more important ones at the moment. As a Club with the values we proclaim, it's sad we're falling behind the football addiction rather than stepping back and trying to make brave, strong decisions.

Said that I am not sure also what role the leagues play in this. They could be part of the problem too.

[jackgg]

Anyone else a bit surprised that we're going ahead with games this weekend? Last I checked, Waltham Forest had the 2nd-highest rate of positive cases in London, with Newham and Hackney not far behind, and London will be in Tier 3 restrictions from Wednesday.

Also, the W1T game on Sunday just gone was postponed because "a few of our players have tested positive" according to the club Twitter.

I get that it should be up to the team committees whether to play or not (and hopefully players feel that they are able to say so if they don't want to), but surely as a club we have a duty of care to the players, staff, volunteers, fans, community, etc. - not least a week before when many might be planning to spend time with family, etc.

I totally agree with you. We should lead by example. There is no postponement, risk of getting the league voided or anything that can justify a rush to games.

In Italy clubs at our level haven't even ever started the 2020/2021 league. It's an issue, but there are more important ones at the moment. As a Club with the values we proclaim, it's sad we're falling behind the football addiction rather than stepping back and trying to make brave, strong decisions.

Said that I am not sure also what role the leagues play in this. They could be part of the problem too.

Pleased I'm not the only one. I think it's getting pretty embarrassing for a 'community' club to be pushing ahead (at least how it appears to me) with games until opposition pull out, while coaching staff (and the website, arguably) mock opposition teams for citing 'Covid issues'. I respect the other clubs' stance more than ours.

From what I've seen the MCFL has been pretty good tbh - allowing teams to postpone without penalty if they have concerns, and allowing teams an extra week to train after the 4-week lockdown. GLWLF at least took the step to postpone all games this weekend, even if there are issues about how they dealt with our positive tests last week.

Interesting to see what Folkestone Invicta (Isthmian Premier) have said: http://folkestoneinvictafc.co.uk/news/3310
"... we all agree not to play any games until mid to end of January at the earliest. This decision was not took lightly. All we want is you the supporters, the players and the officials of this fantastic club to be safe and if we played any games at the moment we would be putting your life’s the players life’s and officials life’s at risk and we are not prepared to do that."

The infection rate is significantly lower in Folkestone than in Walthamstow according to the current statistics, for what it's worth.

[MattSee]

I am in general agreement with you both.

As a member of Matchday committee I do believe that our procedures and the fact that games are outdoors mean that the risk to others is minimised.

However, the same applies to all games at all clubs, and that others such as Folkestone above are being more cautious right now should I think be cause for reflection, especially given how we seek to portray ourselves, as you both say.

I wonder if CCFC's structure might make this harder for us. Most clubs have a board eho make all the decisions. We work as satellites, each commitee looking after one aspect of the club. This means there is nowhere where a club-wide policy (ie when can club pause certain activities due to, say, a pandemic) can be agreed. I am also in the Coronavirus working group (which contains members of Matchday, LL, M1T, W1T, Beginners/5s and YoungTons). So far this has worked mainly to ensure we are doing things safely when we do them. As it is not a committee in its own right, it seems presumptuous for club-wide policy to be set there, but in the absence of anywhere else maybe that is what needs to happen?

Either way, I hope that the club can reach a shared position on this which is consistent with its other commitments.