CLUB UPDATE - Return to play dates

Dear Members and Supporters,

It has been a couple of weeks since our last communication, and with the measures in place being effective at controlling the virus, there been much work behind the scenes getting things in place to see if sports can commence again quickly.

The Current Situation & Updates

Whilst Victoria is still under a State of Emergency until the 11 May 2020, there is a meeting of the National Cabinet tomorrow and we anticipate the State Government will announce a decision on the containment measures which will prevail.
Rugby Vic and Rugby Australia have come up with plans to re-commence community rugby, subject to state and local government laws and regulations. These plans could see us commence as follows:

STAGE 3: 11 May - 24 May 2020 
Training with social distancing, with non-contact drill groups of 10 or less.

STAGE 2: 25 May - 7 June 2020
Limited contact in groups of 10 or less, includes touch and Oztag full skills programs for periods of 15 minutes or less.

STAGE 1: 7 June 2020 Onward
Full training sessions with groups of 10 people or more with rules around hygiene, etc. for a minimum of two weeks, limiting social gatherings.

4 July 2020 - Potential Competitions and Games
Season commencement early July 2020 extending through to October 2020.

These dates and time-frames are subject to change and are subject to rules and regulations around hygiene and gathering. A handbook for the Return to Play Framework is being prepared by Rugby VIC, and we expect to receive this later this week and will make available to all.

Registrations

Due to these measures being taken and to continue to help flatten the curve around COVID-19 as well as keeping our community safe, all players, coaches and managers will need to be registered with the club through Rugby Xplorer in order to participate in training and games.

Download the app for free through Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Apple App Store
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/rugby-xplorer/id1348617362

Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details id=xyz.statedge.xlplorer.app

Financial Support

The club has made available financial support for membership registrations with discount vouchers/codes for those who need it when registering with Rugby Xplorer. These codes significantly reduce the club fees and applies for junior and senior players. To apply for your discount code, please contact  lena.weston@moorabbinrams.com with the full name of the player/s and mobile number. A unique code that can only be used once for each player will be sent to you. 

All kids that register will receive a ball and a member pack, so get in early!

Summer and Winter Programs

Rugby Victoria has been doing a fantastic job representing our sport in a joint working group that includes AFL, football, and other winter sports to make sure fields are made available with the delayed start. This will hopefully lead to a decent length season and home and away games.

Volunteers

We will need more volunteers this year than the years before. The return to play framework requires us to put in place measures to enforce controls on training sessions and the use of premises, this will require many hands to make the team experience as enjoyable as possible.

If you are prepared to be a volunteer, please register on Rugby Xplorer and complete your Working With Children (WWC) accreditation. This can be done online via https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

The season commencement may be delayed but it is going to be awesome to get back out there in some capacity and start team sport.

I hope you are all as excited as I am and lets get behind each other to get ready to start a fantastic season of rugby.

Arvind David
President, Moorabbin RUFC