Gisborne Netball Centre welcomes changes to Covid rules

WELCOME CHANGES: Aydene Waikato (left, of Waikohu) and Skye Swann (Ritana) in netball action. The district's netballers have welcomed the news that the Covid Health Protection Framework requirements are changing. File picture

The Gisborne Netball Centre has welcomed the announcements on Wednesday from the Government about the changes to the Covid “traffic light” requirements.

From midnight tonight there will be no restrictions on the number of people able to attend outdoor gatherings such as sports and concerts.

With indoor gatherings the number restriction rises from 100 to 200.

“The update from the Government regarding the Covid Protection Framework is exciting news for us, as is the My Vaccine Pass use being dropped at 11.59pm on April 4,” centre manager Allisa Hall said.

“We will no longer require players to have a vaccine pass to register for our Pak'nSave netball competition.

“While we were going to require that, due to the numbers we run at Victoria Domain each week, it was not really an enforcement any of us at GNC were keen to have to monitor,” Hall said.

“Manning the gates to check entry is not where we ideally would like to use our small base of volunteers and staff.

“This will be welcome for any of our players, coaches, officials and parents out there who were potentially going to miss out on participating in some form this season,” she said.

“The removal of the gathering restrictions for outdoor venues is also very welcome, as we were potentially having to consider running over two venues again just to get through the Saturday games.

“We will now be able to consider double-header weekends for seniors to catch up the two weekends of games affected by the postponed start of our season,” Hall said.

A Facebook poll of players and coaches has started to find a suitable date for the Kathleen Henderson Tournament.

“We will require minimum entries for each grade to be able to run,” Hall said.

“It's also great to know the new gathering rules in the ‘Red' setting will allow us to run the tournament as usual, and we won't have to look at amending the format at all.

“Also, we're thinking of all of our Coastie netballers after the weather up there. Keep safe, and know we are sending aroha to you all and your whanau.”