It's time to show some of that Northland mana and do what's right for our sporting communities until local competitions begin. Photo / File
It's time to show some of that Northland mana and do what's right for our sporting communities until local competitions begin. Photo / File
And to think, the last time I wrote one of these, I was moaning about how hard it was to talk to humble sports volunteers.
How times have changed and I'm sure they'll change again from the time I write this on Friday afternoon to whenever you read this inprint or online.
If you're reading in print, you will have noticed the absence of my byline from the back page. That's because as Northland's sport landscape rapidly changes, the Northern Advocate (owned by NZME) has to change with it to ensure we are here when life returns to normal.
In a way, the coming weeks will be somewhat normal for Northland's sporting community after a whirlwind period of about 72 hours last week when decisions around club competitions needed to made ASAP to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.
For those smart enough not to buy into the hysteria and ignore their constantly pinging phone, the long and short of it is all major Northland winter codes (football, rugby, netball, league, hockey) have postponed their club competitions until May 2.
It also includes training which has been strongly advised against by all of those codes until April 13 at the earliest.
While Northland's sports grounds lay empty (Onerahi's football ground seen here), we need to remember why it is so important to adhere to Ministry of Health guidelines. Photo / File
The national postponement will leave Northland's junior sport competitions largely unaffected as most start early May anyway.
Northland's less-populated sporting codes are not exempt from the ramifications of a nationwide sporting lockdown and while some sports continue to train within Ministry of Health guidelines, all will be impacted.
If you are in the sporting community as most of Northland will be, now is not the time to panic. In essence, we do have consistency and should things not worsen come May, we will see Northland's sports fields and facilities at full capacity once again.
Yes, this temporary shutdown could have a financial impact on clubs and organisations run by volunteers, sometimes on the smell of an oily rag, but if we can last six weeks without play, they should be able to bounce back.
Now, I understand there is a strong sentiment in some circles that all of these measures put in place to reduce the odds of community outbreak are over the top and needless.
Just like with everything these days, there is no point in getting angry at these people. The consequences due to Covid-19 across society are only just coming to light and spending your energy worrying or raging over them is a waste.
My feeling towards these people is pity, because odds are it won't take long before their family or someone they know is affected by the coronavirus which will leave them asking themselves, 'Shit, should I have done more to stop the spread?'.
All of this is to say that no matter how trivial you think these restrictions are, just adhere to them for the good of the community. Similar to what I've banging on about for the last couple of weeks, there are more important things than competing.
Keep in mind the impact Covid-19 will have on our rural clubs like United Kawakawa Rugby Football Club. Photo / File
As you might expect with no club sport on, my role as the paper's only sports reporter becomes fairly redundant.
Fortunately, sport itself will not stop completely and while I'll be floating in between the general news and sports pages, I will still be on the hunt for local sports stories.
So to all clubs and organisations, whether you're playing or not, make sure to let me know of any interesting sport stories in your area.
If it's in between Cape Reinga and Wellsford, I want to know about it. As we all know, six weeks can go by in the blink of an eye and I know there will be a number of worthy tales running around Northland's sporting community.
Email me at sports@northernadvocate.co.nz with anything you consider newsworthy. I promise I will not ignore anything.
