The GMCL Board have now considered the most recent guidance and welcome the decision to permit outdoor grassroots cricket from the 29th of March 2021.
What follows is our plans based on the current situation regarding the start of the 2021 GMCL season. This position is dependent on further guidance from the ECB, Sport England and the DCMS which of course is dependent on further progress in fighting COVID-19. The recent statement from the ECB confirms that they are working with Sport England and the Government and are planning to issue further guidance to enable Clubs and Leagues to prepare in time for the 29th of March.
All things considered and with no further bumps along the way we fully expect the GMCL open-age season to start on Saturday 17th of April as planned but
- We expect some restrictions on the use of changing rooms and clubhouses.
- We expect there will be adaptive play regulations to reflect the current situation and we expect that these may change over the course of the season, dependent on the Government roadmap, but this cannot be confirmed at this time
- We expect, as was the case last season, Clubs will be required to follow all relevant guidance.
The GMCL Board do not expect more detailed information until mid-March at the earliest, at which point we will make decisions on other matters such as tea provision, deputy professionals due to travel restrictions, managing positive tests and match cancellations.
So, to our competitions:
At this point, should the COVID-19 restriction not worsen in the coming weeks, it is our intention to play all our competitions at open-age and junior levels.
- The Saturday and Sunday League competitions will begin on the weekend of 17 & 18 April and will be played in the divisions as set out in our 2021 season document, with full promotion and relegation.
- We will now organise the Carlsberg Tetley cup draws for all senior teams, and publish these when done
- For the GMCL20 competition we will put in place a back-up plan to delay the start of the competition if that can give us most, if not all, of the games with clubhouses open for those clubs that can benefit from as many games as possible with supporters and customers on the ground in the evening spending their long-saved money in your clubhouse.
- We are already asking clubs to inform us of their junior team entries https://www.gtrmcrcricket.co.uk/blog/junior-cricket-2021-season . The restrictions above will also probably apply to junior cricket.
6 weeks is a long time in the pandemic and so the situation may change prior to the 17th of April but we would encourage all clubs to prepare for a full season with promotion and relegation and their teams playing in the divisions as published.
Make sure you are in contact with your members and players and get your club procedures rolling.
We will issue instructions on player registrations for the 2021 season in the coming days, the £10 registration fee for over 18s will be in place for 2021 season and will include:-
- personal accident insurance for all our junior and senior players for GMCL matchday activity
- the premium cricHQ access to your registered e-mail address.
Our advice is Be Prepared.
#STAYSAFE