Struggle for clubs as virus takes toll
THE return of sport is well underway as coronavirus restrictions begin to ease. But such has been the devastating impact of the health crisis, regional centres still face plenty of challenges getting off the ground and succeeding postpandemic. This is part three of the Townsville Bulletin’s series tackling these issues.
IN the decade Tania Hocking has volunteered in Townsville football, the faces alongside her have largely stayed the same.
And when the prosperity of regional sport is at stake, that is not necessarily a good thing.
The Brothers Townsville Football Club secretary has worn various hats in the past 10 years – from coaching to team management to the vice-presidency.
In that time she has noticed a diminishing volunteer base across the region, with those still performing their duties the same people as when Hocking started.
Now the coronavirus pandemic has heightened the responsibility of these volunteers to ensure the return to play guidelines are adhered to.
The fear Hocking has is that the demand will drive these individuals away.
For instance, Hocking said the guidelines around cleaning toilets in addition to managing the number of people in the vicinity was far too much for a smaller volunteer base to manage – particularly in a public space.
She said while parents had mostly been adaptable to the ever-changing climate, many had voiced their concerns and issues with how the rules will impact their child.
“I’ve always enjoyed being a volunteer but this year has definitely been a stretch,” Hocking said.
“Now we’re trying to get the season starting again and with a lot of regulations I’m finding the feedback from who we’re volunteering is how ridiculous this is.
“We’re lucky we have such a good committee at Brothers, but there’s smaller clubs out there and bigger clubs even that already struggle for volunteers.
“It’s very hard on the handful of volunteers you have there … a lot of us are rearranging our work hours, it’s a lot of strain on people who have our normal jobs then being expected to take that responsibility for others.
“I can see some people saying ‘I just can’t do this anymore’ … trying to work to get food on the table. You’re going to lose that volunteer base (and) you can’t run it without them, so it’s a lot of pressure on them.”
In the Townsville and District Rugby League, clubs such as Herbert River and Charters Towers have stated they will not field teams in the senior competition, despite a decision on its 2020 progression not set to be made until June 30.
Among the reasons cited has been the strain on volunteers. Similar concerns have seen competitions in Cairns, Bundaberg and Toowoomba already cancelled. Queensland Rugby League’s Scott Nosworthy said having enough volunteers to ensure the COVID-19 guidelines were adhered to would be a massive challenge should the season get underway.
The northern division manager said plans such as sending SOS calls out to former club members across the region to get involved again were in action and organisations were aware of just how crucial their volunteer base would be.
While he was confident the “resilience of the rugby league people” would win out at the end of the day if the season went ahead, each club would face a tough task keeping up the wellbeing of their volunteers.
And without them, he said there simply would not be a sport to enjoy.
“Like most sports it’s very volunteer orientated. In North Queensland we’ve got 15,000 players, so many thousand volunteers and within that we’ve got 20 employees within the game so we’re massively indebted to our volunteers,” Nosworthy said.