Club Affiliation Fees to be reviewed – from BV Board
Dear Member Clubs,
We first must say that we are very aware of the impact of Covid-19 on our community and feel a great deal of empathy towards individuals and clubs. These are tough times.
Our thoughts are with anyone who is unwell, and we wish them a speedy recovery. The damage caused by Covid-19 worldwide is nothing short of horrific.
In a financial sense, we hope all clubs and members don’t experience hardship, but that’s not the reality and we too have friends/family who have been stood down from work and clubs impacted. We know this will be felt by many.
As you are aware, the BV Board set the 2020-21 affiliation fee at no increase on last year, with extended payment terms and an expanded hardship program before the “2nd wave” of COVID-19.
What we had hoped, was that we would be back playing by now.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case and we have seen more damaging lockdowns with Stage 4 in Metropolitan Melbourne and Stage 3 in Regional Victoria.
We appreciate how hard this situation is on our member clubs and are looking to our State Government for financial assistance.
Our position after our Board meeting today is to see what the State Government announcement will be once the current Government-enforced lockdown is reviewed in mid-September. We are hopeful that by that time we will have a clearer picture on the impact to the 2020-21 season.
The Board’s intention is to reduce affiliation fees for this year in line with the impact to the season and the measures that some other states have undertaken.
Naturally the detail is fluid given the current situation which we are watching closely.
We have also resolved today to waive any payment for Pennant Permits this coming season as we know many bowlers will be having difficulties travelling from clubs to their homes due to border closures/restrictions.
Please be patient with us, we want to make sure we are making the right decision and not constantly making subsequent decisions as the situation changes.
Keep well and keep safe.
Barb Gilbert
President
(on behalf of the BV Board)
