LISNAGARVEY HOCKEY CLUB

Covid Update – 30th August 2020

Across the country clubs are trying to facilitate the return to their sport, everything from training, playing friendly or competitive matches, and running social events. At Lisnagarvey we are very fortunate to have a group of committed volunteers who have done a great job in ensuring that we have been able to ‘open’ certain parts of the club in a safe way and in compliance with Covid-19 guidance and regulations. This has allowed training to take place for all sections of the club, and for Ulster and Ireland teams to use our pitches for training. Our Covid protocols can be seen here.

We now approach the first competitive match of the season at Comber Road, the Irish Senior Cup Semi Final against Glenanne on Sunday 6th September and we are stepping up our preparations to ensure that the match can be played and watched safely.

Life and times have changed considerably since the last competitive hockey matches were played, and we are having to adapt accordingly. This means that we are reluctantly having to introduce various measures to ensure that games can be played safely, which unfortunately includes having to restrict the number of people who can be accommodated at the club. This means we have to limit access to the grounds, which includes restricting the number of spectators who can attend the Senior Cup Semi Final to 120. In addition, we are not yet able to open the clubhouse.

We look forward to the time when we can return to normal, where anyone can arrive to watch a game, where there are no forms to fill in and we can socialise in the club uninterrupted. But this is likely to be some time away, and for the foreseeable future our number one priority is to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved whilst keeping activities on the pitch running as smoothly as possible.

There has been a lot of great work done already in various parts of the club, including the introduction of a new Youth Committee and Youth Charter under the leadership of our new Youth Convenor, Simon Toole, as well as the various improvements to the club grounds under our new Grounds Convenor, Gareth Aughey.

We will need significant help from volunteers to get the club through the coming season, and our management committee cannot do everything on their own, so any help and assistance that our members and supporters can provide will be greatly appreciated. We are also having to invest substantially to enable the club to be ‘open for business’, so fundraising will be a very important aspect of the club in this coming season.

You can play your part in helping the club get through these tricky times, whether by volunteering some of your time, or by being patient and understanding when you are being asked to limit access to matches, or comply with new protocols. Please be assured that our committee are working very hard on your behalf and together we can keep Lisnagarvey moving forwards.

Kyle Lunn

Chairman