AoC Sport update on coronavirus - 2.11.20

In light of the recent announcement from government regarding new national measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, we can confirm that all AoC Sport competitions will now commence in January. This change will require some changes to league and divisional compositions and fixtures, and these amendments will be communicated in due course and as soon as possible. This decision has not been taken lightly. However, with government guidance advising against all but essential travel from Thursday November 5 onwards and a requirement for many sports facilities to close, it is the only realistic course of action available. Should government guidance change, we will, of course, review this position. We know how important participating in sport and being physically active are to young people. We are engaging with DfE to understand how the new guidance affects the provision of sport in the curriculum and as part of an enrichment offer in colleges and will update our own advice and guidance as soon as possible.

Cup Competitions

We will only be running cup competitions in the following sports: -

• mixed badminton
• men’s, women’s and mixed hockey
• pan-disability football
• men’s rugby
• women’s rugby sevens
• mixed volleyball

Entries for all other cup competitions have been removed from the online entry forms and will not show on your invoice.

League Competitions

We will be amending the format of leagues so that, except for the men’s football premier league, no division has more than six teams and teams will therefore have ten fixtures. We apologise that this will necessitate changes to previously published fixtures, and these amendments will be communicated in due course and as soon as possible. The tier 2 futsal competitions scheduled for the first term cannot now take place. Entry forms and invoices have been amended accordingly. Teams that have put in place risk assessments and COVID-secure measures to enable matches to take place must upload the results of these matches to Naqoda or FA Full Time by Friday. We will endeavour to include these fixtures within the re-formatted leagues All fixtures will be hidden from public view on Naqoda and the AoC Sport website on Friday afternoon and will be made live again once all leagues have been updated.

Competition Calendar

An amended competition calendar for 2020/21 has been produced and added to the competitions section of the website.

Invoices

We will not issue invoices until competitions start, hopefully in early January.

National Team Trials

The first stage of the men’s and women’s football trials took place over the October half term and a second stage trial has been provisionally pencilled in for December. The trials for netball and hockey will not take place until the New Year and fixtures are being organised for the end of the spring term and the start of the summer term.