24th July 2020

Welcome back to the next edition of the Magpie Mail. Apologies for missing an edition last week, it wasn’t through lack of content, more because of lack of time. The restart of the competition, in its restricted form and conditions, is proving in these early stages to be very time consuming for all involved in the club.

COVID-19 Concerns

It seems that at least every second conversation nowadays is about COVID-19. Certainly, every news item is about the subject. Unfortunately, it is a part of our lives currently. We must take it seriously and we must follow the rules and restrictions. The consequences of further outbreaks, not just to football, but to our lifestyles is something that can’t be imagined.

At Cooks Square last weekend, the general behaviour and acceptance of all who visited the ground was good. However, just like in shopping centres and other places where people gather, there is a tendency to relax our behaviour. WE ARE ALL GUILTY OF IT.

On Thursday night, there was a special COVID 19 meeting convened by NNSWF. I don’t have the feedback on it as yet, but the essential message that they were giving is that clubs and sporting grounds cannot allow the rules to be bent or broken. The SAP teams and U12s are playing at our ground on Saturday and they will be subject to these harsher conditions.

I anticipate that we will put a special COVID -19 Update out prior to game time.

Please remember that Dan Barge and Matt Hubbard are the club’s COVID Marshalls, and we all should be respectful of their requests and instructions in regard to COVID compliance.

Competition Update

Two competition rounds under our belt for Seniors and Youth, and some greatly mixed results.

My day on Round 1 started at Cooks Square, where I was fortunate to see our U12s squad stage a magnificent performance against Valentine to record their first win as a team. These boys are not NPL status yet but are working and training hard for the opportunity that 2021 will bring.

Being at Cooks for the U12s meant that I missed seeing U13s convincing win over their Weston opponents. After the U13s result, the day got better and better, as we recorded four Youth wins out of four games – the first time we had achieved that feat in 5 years of competition.

Unfortunately, all that elation was quickly washed away the following day when the seniors travelled away to Edgeworth and came back after 3 games, with not a single competition point.

A weekend of Home games for Round 2. Our Youth squads were faced with a lot tougher competition against the Edgeworth Youth, and the upgrade in quality showed the boys the sort of standard they must achieve to be a highlight in the NPL.

The following day our Senior teams welcomed Lake Macquarie to Cooks and showed the level of quality and skill that exists in our teams at that level. A 4 – 1 win in 1st grade, could well have blown out into double figures, had our star-studded forward line been able to finish all of their chances. Still early days and can’t wait for those boys to be hitting top gear and putting away plenty of goals. We look forward to some exciting games at Cooks in the coming weeks.

UK Tour 2021

We continue to maintain a positive attitude towards the opportunity to take a tour group to UK in late 2021. A couple of weeks ago we featured a ‘recommendation’ from the Graham family on their tour experience from 2019. This week one from the Northcote family.

For the boys, the experiences they had with coaching at EPL clubs, Claire Fontaine in Paris was next level and will be etched in their memories forever.

Every day was a new and exciting experience one that our family will cherish forever.

Also, opportunities for the ladies to tick some things off the bucket whilst the boys were playing games.

We visited the champagne region of Paris for the day and watched a spectacular performance at Moulin Rouge. Fantastic for those who would like to extend their trip and explore the wonders of Europe.

Happy to be of help to any questions anyone may have.

Kath, Adam and Tom Northcote.

We have had plenty of Expressions of Interest for those boys and families that will play U14s, U15s, and U16s in 2021. At this stage it is just an Expressions of Interest, no commitment. We will convene next week some group Zoom meetings with those who have responded to start a process. If you wish to be involved, please forward your name and email address to Kylie Hubbard at secretary@maitlandfc.com.au

Social Media

In the constant drive to maintain communication, contact and entertainment, we have been working on a few aspects of our social media presence.

Rosalie Furness (Under 15s) has taken over the role of Administrator of our website (www.maitlandfc.com.au). From this week she is working on the project of updating the facility to include all relevant details of current events and our history.

As you can appreciate this is an ongoing exercise, so be sure to log into the site and enjoy the progress. Rosalie has a long list of subjects that need to be installed, but I’m sure that she would also be interested to hear your suggestions for content.

We are quite unique regarding Social Media in that we have our own App.

The Maitland Magpie Members app is available free to all, and it is designed to be your ‘go to” location for information on all Magpie related information.

The app was created about 18 months ago, but due to time restraints we have not driven it to its full potential.

This week, Rebecca (Bec) Griffey (U12s and U13s), took on the role of Administrator for the site. Already Bec is taking every opportunity to get Magpie supporters to download the App and start using on a regular basis.

When fully loaded the App will provide you with game schedules, results, player names and numbers, sponsor details and promotional opportunities and more.

With the app if you are downloading and using it this weekend, it may seem a bit slow to download. This has been addressed by our IT man (Twister), and he advises that it is going through a ‘reload’ function which will improve the performance and should be completed by at least Monday.

Download the Maitland Member app here

         

Game Photography

Special mention and thanks this week to our 2 teams of roving club photographers – Paul Innes (U13s), going by the brand of Phat Duck, and Bruce and Ben Graham (U15s).

These fellows have kindly provided their time and resources to follow both Youth and Senior teams, around the competition, to provide a catalogue of action photos for us all to enjoy.

Ray Watkins
President
Maitland FC