Dear SBMT Community, 

We hope you enjoyed the sunshine over the weekend after the State Government’s easing of restrictions which occurred last week. It is still vitally important to practice social distancing and safe hygiene regardless of the ability to now get out and about.

It would have been a glorious weekend for footy, and we can’t wait to get back on the grounds, but in a safe and organised way. There has been some discussion in local media recently about whether getting back to playing suburban football is such a great thing due to the financial burden of a short season, but for the St Bedes/Mentone Tigers, some footy will always be preferable to no footy.

Football is more than just a game. The collective physical and mental health of both our club and the wonderful individuals within it, depends on our connection to the game and each other. We face some large financial challenges regardless of how football returns in 2020, especially with the funds required for the new facility and the lost opportunities for functions and events that were planned for back at the start of this season. However the social impact of not having football in our local community at all for the remainder of the year, could be a far greater cost. 

The SBMT Board have discussed what the possibilities of a return to football might look like, and what each scenario means for the Club, from both a financial and organisational perspective. 

We are directed by a few organisations including City of Kingston, AFL Victoria, VAFA and SMJFL.

Following the Victorian Government advice around the return of community sport last week, AFL Victoria will release its return to train protocols early this week and is endorsing a return to club sanctioned training from Monday 25 May. The various SBMT committees will now meet to ascertain what this means for us. In summary, the return to train protocols for community football in Victoria will enable:

1. Training to resume in groups of up to 10 people. (The group of 10 does not include a coach or the minimum number of support staff who are reasonably required to manage the activity).

2. Two groups of 10 can utilise the same oval provided they do not operate closely together, and the oval is split into two zones.

There are a number of considerations around health and safety protocols and insurance which need to be worked through prior to training being formally sanctioned. As soon as we have further information we will be communicating that to our whole SBMT community.

So until we can train in groups again, stay connected to your coaches, stay connected to our community, look out for each other and focus on keeping safe and staying socially distant. Hopefully before we know it we’ll be back together and revelling in all that is wonderful about our mighty SBMT. 

Go Tigers!
Lou Prichard Nicholson 
Club President 

St Bedes/Mentone Tigers AFC