Hello Folks,

With the last of our teams finishing up two weeks ago, what has been a very tumultuous 2020 season has come to an end. 

The initial delayed start, with all of the associated uncertainty, then starting a compressed season with limited notice and the increased demands of managing through Covid-19, made for a very challenging set of circumstances for everyone.

There were some notable setbacks early on, with two teams we had the numbers for not being able to go ahead due to issues with competition structures, but despite the difficulties we faced, the overall effort throughout the club has been outstanding and I would like to thank and to congratulate everyone involved. 

I also need to thank our major sponsor Stephen Lemm from Mortgage Choice Neutral Bay. As you know Steve has been a great supporter of our club, but in Covid-19 times it would have been easy for him to have pulled back. However Steve, being who he is, did the opposite and actually increased his financial support. As I’ve said many times before, we have to support the people who support us, so if the opportunity presents itself, please thank Steve and make him your first call if you’re in need of finance.

Similarly, the Union Hotel has maintained its significant sponsorship of the club during a time that would have been very difficult for them. So when you get a chance, please show your appreciation and support to Dean Rankine and his team at the Union. I’m also very grateful to the teams at Mater Clinic Physiotherapy, Prime Constructions, ISC for sticking with us.

We’ll communicate more about the North Shore Legends in the near future, but the contributions of this group have also played a major role in the club getting through the season in reasonable financial shape and also in us being able to discount registration fees for players, which is something that a lot of clubs weren’t able to do. So thank you to the Legends and to the team that put this initiative together.

We’re very conscious of how little interaction we’ve been able to have this year as a club, so we’ve been hopeful that restrictions would ease sufficiently to enable us to celebrate the year at our presentation night. Unfortunately restrictions haven’t been relaxed enough, so that’s not going to be possible. In view of this, a number of alternative options have been canvassed and we’ll be able to advise in the very near future how and when we’ll announce and present our awards.

Announcements will also be made very soon about pre-season dates/venues and competition structures for 2021. Information about our AGM will be sent out in the next few weeks.

We certainly haven’t gotten everything right this season and there are a variety of things that we need to learn from and do better, but I believe we have definitely gone forward as a club in circumstances that it would have been very easy to have gone backwards in. That’s to the credit of every player, coach, volunteer and supporter associated with the club. 

So thank you all for the fantastic effort and positive attitude that has got us through the really rough season that 2020 has been.

John Goode – President