Update from the CEO

Hi Everyone,

As Regional Victorian clubs are back on the water and Metro Melb clubs are awaiting for exemptions to be made to the Public Health Orders to enable facilities and equipment to be retrieved for contactless recreation, I thought it prudent to reach out.

I’ve been fortunate to engage with the community via a few discussions this week. For those in Melb, now having endured the most days on the planet in lockdown, emotions are coming to the surface; whether that be the young, elite athletes fearing their representative dreams are slipping away as they cant get on the water or those lashing out regarding the Gov’t Directions on vaccinations or general comments on the season ahead, it’s been an enlightening week.

The recently released Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) study on the effects of COVID has made for some startling reading. It’s available within this newsletter. In addition to the mental toll resultant from this pandemic, 10% (9,000) of the nation’s community sporting clubs (a number polled included Rowing Clubs) and associations fear insolvency in the short term, 83% of clubs reported a decline in annual revenue, with an average of $18,500/ club. 60% are concerned about membership decline, across both participants and volunteers. Rowing through Victoria is not immune to this with our Club participation numbers dropping 20% in season 2020/21 vs. 2019/20. Work is underway in looking to address this and support our clubs in their recovery. The ASF document highlights some additional, short term opportunities in supporting recovery and sustainability.

As we are all aware, rowing is the ultimate team sport and its by working together that we attain our best racing results. This further needs to be modelled via our actions off the water and when training, especially at this time whilst we look to manage opportunities through the various COVID restrictions. As communicated to the Clubs last week, the optics of how we interact with the community at large have the potential to impact how we as a sport are perceived and the degree and range of services, waterway access and funding from Gov’t we receive. Only this week, we were notified of our success in receiving a six-figure gov’t grant to grow participation and protect our community. When multiple sporting bodies through the State received no funding through this round of grants, this was a great outcome, one that took a great deal of lobbying and one that should not be underestimated nor taken for granted.

Future funding, access to facilities and waterways, Gov’t departments and infrastructure support are all dependent upon our collective actions. So, although it’s been more than tempting for some to thumb noses at the current directives, to access facilities and get equipment to get on the water when this is currently not permitted, the potential reputational, operational and financial consequences of these actions should not be discounted. So, for those in Melbourne, please do not access your shed until advised. Your actions in doing so could severely compromise the future participation and competitive opportunities of the entire community. It is unlikely that we will hear of any easing of restrictions affecting our facility access and those of many other sports until early next week. I acknowledge your frustration and will provide further updates asap.

Vaccinations are a hot topic through our community. As per the State Gov’t COVID-19 Vaccination Activity Directions, the ability for people to participate in a range of activities is dependent upon their vaccination status. More opportunities are available for those who are fully vaccinated vs. those who are not, and these have been communicated to the Clubs for implementation. Following Gov’t advice and commentary, it’s also highly likely that the ability for 16+ year olds to compete in community sport from November will be dependent upon an athlete’s/ crew’s vaccination status. We’ll continue to monitor this situation.

Finally, during these tough times, it’s so important that we look out for ourselves and those around us. Whether that be by keeping active (e.g. via the RV Active KM Challenge), and/ or keeping on top of our mental health and wellbeing , its important that we acknowledge the challenges and reach for professional help if you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed or finding life difficult. This can help you to manage any feelings or mental health problems by putting some coping strategies in place before any issues turn into more serious conditions. Please find here the link to a range of resources.

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/broader-community-resources-mental-health

I’m looking forward to seeing our entire community on the water soon.

Cheers, Ian