Change to outdoor community sport restrictions comes as good news for Bathurst Touch Football

Initially organisers had hoped to commence the new season on Monday, October 25, but at the start of the week public health order restrictions permitting just 200 people at outdoor community sport meant that would not be possible.

It led to the decision to delay the start of competitions by a week.

On Wednesday morning it was announced that an amendment to the public health order would allow outdoor community sport gatherings of up to 1,000 fully vaccinated people.

That alteration came as good news for Bathurst Touch Football, but by then the decision to delay had already been made.

"If it was left at 200 we couldn't play," Bathurst Touch Football's Tony Lewis said.

"At some time slots there I would have upwards of 350-400 people on the grounds at any one time. Even though it is spread out, with a five or 10 minute period in between games there are going to be even more people during that crossover too.

"Player health and safety is a primary concern, most definitely.

"We had to make a call, so we made a prudent call today [Tuesday] at 9am to delay the season. That was before we learned about the changes. There could be more changes still, so we will stick with that decision."

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Though the increase in participation rates overcomes one hurdle Bathurst Touch Football faced, there are still a number of logistical issues that must be dealt with before play can commence.

They relate to the system of checking vaccination status of participants and the QR code system.

"We are seeking clarification with how many COVID marshals we need and how we go about policing double vaxing," Lewis said.

"We run 17 fields at the one time ... that is a huge ask if we have to have a COVID marshal on each of those fields, we couldn't do it.

"So we are seeking clarification."

Lewis is hoping that clarification comes soon and the competition's COVID-19 safety plan will be sorted out to allow play to commence on November 1.

While the start date could be pushed back further still, Lewis said that would almost certainly impact registrations.

"Registrations up back up to where we were [in the past]. As of Tuesday night we were basically at the status quo, I think I'm only down three or four sides on last year and Monday nights are full," he said.

"We could hold off until December 1^st, but if we do that we've basically lost half our comp and the private schools - who provide 30 plus teams for me - if we were to do that and delay until then, we would lose those sides.

"They would only get one game in because they're gone on the 3^rd, they'd miss seven or eight weeks and it would not be worth them playing the competition."

Bathurst Touch Football will advise players of any further developments when they come to hand via their Facebook page.

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