Dear Parents

I hope you and your young player are as excited to return to Football this week as we are.

Personally, this most recent suspension of football has felt longer and harder than any previous, and it will be good for the soul to see all our players back at Marley’s Lane playing with their team mates again.

The new protocols for a safe return to training are generally the same as they were in December when we finished up, and I have included the main key points at the bottom of this letter. You also should have a copy of the entire document from the FAI sent to you by your manager. These protocols cover this period of training only and are sure to change as society continues to open up.

Unfortunately, due to unauthorised use of our astro pitch during lockdown, the fence has become badly damaged so we will be only using grass areas during the month of May until the damage is repaired.

In 2020 we had no outbreaks or even confirmed cases of Covid-19 at the club. This is pretty unique among clubs locally during the same period and I’m sure you’ll join me in hoping we can be lucky and continue in the same vein.

Our aim is to have a relaxed but mindful, safe, fun environment at the club and the only way we can successfully achieve this is to have shared responsibility between club, coach, player and parent to keep the show on the road.

There is really no update on the return to matches. All leagues are waiting for updates from government but we expect the teams competing in Dublin to resume their season where it left off and continue until the end of the year. The local leagues will begin a new season when matches return. The general consensus is that competitive games will resume around June.

Financially the club suffered significant losses in 2020, at a level I personally haven’t witnessed before during my time at the club, but on the upside we still managed to renovate the bathrooms at the old dressing rooms and we have completed our application for the maximum Sports Capital Grant of €150k for our new clubhouse, while also securing a finance agreement to cover the excess. We hope to hear the results of the application towards the end of the year and if successful will begin work as soon as feasible.

In the meantime we have turned our attention to redeveloping the playing surfaces and are currently in discussions with other parties in a bid to accelerate this. If these meetings are fruitful I would hope to update you before the end of May when we hope to have our overdue A.G.M online.

For those players playing in Dublin leagues that had their monthly installments suspended last November, these payments will resume from May 10th. For players beginning a new season in the local leagues we would ask that you purchase a new membership before Sunday 30th May. It is advised to use the monthly payment option as a safeguard to any, dare I say it, future lockdowns.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Best Wishes

Graham

Key Points for Players and Parents to return to training.

1. Make sure you are signed in to the app and have completed health declaration before training.

2. Players must bring own hand-sanitiser to all sessions and have all personal items labeled.

3. Arrive and pick up at the requested time.

4. If staying at the ground during sessions please maintain social distance.

5. The club would prefer if players are dropped off and picked up, as this will be easier for us to manage.

6. Parents are not allowed on the grass areas during training.