Bendigo Amateur Soccer League players will be able to return to training as of Monday.
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Football Victoria announced on Friday the return to training conditions for Victorian clubs which contain strict health and safety protocols which must be followed.
Eaglehawk FC president Ben Pengelly said the club would do whatever was required in order for players to get back on the field.
"The conditions are there for a reason and we just want to get back to training and playing," Pengelly said.
"Regardless of how strict they might be, it's a matter of how eager players are to be able to get out and have a kick. I can imagine that every player in Bendigo wants to get back to it.
"This insidious virus has wreaked havoc across all communities and amateur sports aren't in a position to knock back guidelines which the government puts in place."
The guidelines which were approved by the Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton include:
- Participants gather outdoors in groups of no more than 10 (or people from the same household), plus a coach or the minimum number of support staff reasonably required to run the activity.
- Parents or other people are required to keep a reasonable distance or will be included in the group of 10.
- No indoor activity - indoor physical recreation facilities must remain closed.
- Maintain physical distancing of 1.5 metres wherever reasonably possible.
- All activity and training must be non-contact, and no competitions are to take place. Contact sports must be modified so that you can maintain 1.5m distance
- There are several more and other specific guidelines for both individual players and clubs which can be viewed below.
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Spring Gully Reds president Dennis Barnett said he was happy to see the guidelines in place, but it also presented logistical hurdles for the club.
"It will present a challenge in regards to the number of players and the ground space that we have access to," Barnett said.
"Juniors won't be to impacted too much but in total we have 45 teams which will need to be spread across the two main pitches and a cricket oval we use.
"Our focus is to work around how we will find the space for everyone and I am sure it will be the same for a lot of clubs throughout the league."
Clubs will also need written approval from council or landowners before training is able to commence.
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It has been several weeks since teams have been able to train together properly and a frustrating element was to have the competition postponed right in the middle of pre-season.
"It was disappointing for our club as we had a massive pre-season with players at their fittest level we've had in decades. They were primed and ready to go," Pengelly said.
It was a similar story for the Reds who had just finished a strong showing in the FFA Cup and the club's division one men's team was back on the field after a hiatus in the 2019 season.
"We had a really cohesive young squad together for the division one team which progressed well through the FFA Cup and were showing good signs in the pre-season," Barnett said.
"But unfortunately everything then went on hold and it was tough as we wanted to keep up the momentum."
Now that te training commencement date is now confirmed, the next wait will be for when the season proper can get up and running.
FV Chief Executive Peter Filopoulos said he was thrilled to see Victorian players get back to training.
"We've got many thousands of footballers who've been patiently waiting to return to the field and we know it's going to be a thrill for them to get back out there," Filopoulos said.
"We understand that it's only training, and a modified version at that, but football plays such a big part in the lives of so many Victorians and this news will come as a huge relief to so many of them."
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