Sportswatch Winter 2020 What’s Inside From the QSport Office Page 3 New Faces on QSport Board Page 4 State sports federations cancel annual Sport Awards for 2020 / keep options open for Hall of Fame. Page 5 Community Sport Australia collaborative engagement on QAFLW back in action 11 July. Yeronga (black shorts) vs UQ at Yeronga. Photo courtesy of Deion Menzies (AFL Queensland) Australian sport’s recovery from COVID-19 Community Sport Page 6 QSport revamps 2020 program of activities in wake of COVID-19 returns under Page 10 QSport resets for remainder of COVID-19 rules 2020 Page 11 With at least half the usual winter season for many community based sporting competitions cut down by the current coronavirus pandemic, the return of NSC Forum at BCECin community sport across Queensland from early to mid-July has been a welcome November development for the State’s substantial sporting fraternity and the wider Page 12 Queensland community. Third QSport / LGAQ forum set March saw indoor and then outdoor sport closed down for over two months for Gold Coast on 19 October before non-contact indoor and outdoor sport could resume training in June. Page 15 And while not all the usual sporting activity associated with this time of year will New Sports Governance resume, the majority is expected to return, albeit in some instances in shorter Framework launched in form than otherwise would be the case. Some others, though, will press on Brisbane longer into spring than usual to give their participants as much engagement as they can handle. Page 17 Community sports clubs need From lockdown back to resumption, QSport as the Queensland sports collective of over 70 of the States 80 plus sporting organisations responsible for $1.2 billion to survive Covid-19 organised, affiliated sporting activity has been fully engaged with those bodies Page 19 and the State Government’s sport and health agencies in the development of The Australian Sport Officiating the road back via the Road Map that sees sport back where it belongs – on the “field of play” in local venues in local communities for the benefit of all involved. Summit Page 22 Sportswatch is a quarterly publication of QSport which is an independent collective of State sporting organisations established to enhance the development of sport in Queensland. Sportswatch aims to inform readers and views expressed in Sportswatch are not necessarily those of QSport. No responsibility is accepted by QSport for consequences emanating from actions or failures to act on material within this publication. For contributions, advertisements and enquiries, contact the QSport Office at Sports House, Cnr Castlemaine and Caxton Streets MILTON Q 4064 Telephone 07 3369 8955 Facsimile 07 3369 8977 Email [email protected] www.qsport.org.au powered by: We’re for the blood, sweat and tears, on and off the field Online Apps Paper Robert Craddock, Chief Sportswriter @craddock_cmail OFFICIAL BEER OF QUEENSLAND’S #1 BEER * *IRI Aztec | Volume (litres) | MAT July 2019 From the QSport Office From the This is the winter edition of Sportswatch, The spike in cases identified in Victoria is a QSport’s usually quarterly publication that, like reminder as sporting competitions resume most everything else in these unprecedented that Stage 3 – community sport competition times, has been impacted on by the coronavirus resumption under COVID-19 rules – is better than pandemic. Stage 2 – training, training and more training – and a whole lot better that Stage 1 – no organised With no sport allowed from late March to end sporting activity, which is what we can expect May, there was no autumn edition, not that the here in those environments where breakouts of QSport staff who put editions together were not the virus occur and breaches of the COVID-19 on deck. protocols are identified. No, far from it, with the QSport Office fully It goes without saying too much that these past involved from Easter in arguably the busiest few months have been challenging, for many period it has faced in living memory. more than others. Most of that was to do with monitoring the The Commonwealth’s Job Keeper Assistance has projections on COVID-19 impact on member been and remains important to enable many bodies and then two months on, day in day out of those employed in our sporting bodies to be collaboration on the development of Return to maintained in employment. Play material then the four Sport Sector COVID-19 Industry Plans to enable progressive easing of Similarly, the Queensland Government’s Restart initial restrictions outlined in Stages 2 and 3 of package of financial assistance, targeted as it is at the Queensland Road Map for recovery from key areas of need for sport, is welcomed. lockdown. Dealing with disruption has become part and Clichés abound but “don’t waste a good crisis parcel of everyday life for most and will continue “and” every dark cloud has a silver lining” (or to be in terms of COVID related impacts but sport words to that effect) have proven to be so in the offers respite in these uncertain times. case of QSport, its relationship with its members and a collaborative partnership with State As a Director of Community Sport Australia, Government sport and recreation agency and I see a need for government and sport, at health authorities. national, State and local levels, to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the sporting system and To use another well worn phrase of late, “we’re all collaboratively reset for a future that will be tough in this together” indeed has proven to be so. relative to pre COVID times, for government and sport. It could not have happened without near universal acceptance that sport couldn’t get from For its part, QSport faces some challenges, lockdown to resumption without government and financial and otherwise, going forward, challenges vice versa. the QSport Board, staff and members and the organisation’s additional supporters will confront Now the task moves to compliance with what the in the not too distant future. Chief Health Officer has sanctioned for sport to resume, for sporting bodies responsible for the Peter Cummiskey OAM delivery of sporting activity to act responsibly in Chief Executive Officer the near new norm that is COVID-19 Stage 3. Sportswatch - Winter 2020 3 New Faces on QSport Board A side effect of COVID-19 was the postponement The Board has met fortnightly since early April, of the QSport Annual General Meeting from late thanks to Zoom, to monitor COVID-19 impacts March to late May, at which voting members and then to marshall QSport member SSOs elected Hockey Queensland CEO Alison Lyons, to input via QSport’s four Sport Groups to the Water Polo Queensland CEO Melanie Woosnam development of the four COVID-19 Industry and Surfing Queensland CEO Adam Yates to join Plans for sport to resume training in Stage 2 the Board for the next two years. easing from 1 June and Stage 3 resumption of competitions with full contact on the field of play Tenpin Bowling Queensland CEO Gail Torrens from 3 July. also has joined via filling of a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Kym Dowdell. With Stage 3 commenced, monitoring of competition resumption and discussions The above-named join Ben Callard, Australian with major parties on identifying areas for Sailing Queensland / NT Regional Manager, consideration in the lead up to the State election Queensland Rifle Executive Officer Peter Doig and in October and implications for resourcing sport Brand Ambassadors Director Terry Johnston who post 30 June next year are key tasks as the Board each have a further 12 months to serve of their moves towards the end of a year unlike any other. existing appointments. As part of that process, member SSOs are At a subsequent Board meeting, Ben Calland being surveyed for their views to inform those & Peter Doig were confirmed as Chair and discussions and the Board’s Strategic Planning Treasurer respectively while Alison Lyons was Retreat in late November. appointed Deputy Chair. Explore all the things to see and do in Brisbane. Things to see and do 4 Sportswatch - Winter 2020 State sports federations cancel annual Sport Awards for 2020 / keep options open for Hall of Fame. An obvious side effect of COVID-19 for the sport and Exhibition Centre, home of the Awards sector is the disruption the pandemic has wreaked Presentations since their inception back in 1995. on sporting competitions around the world in 2020. Eleven of the 12 awards presented each year relate to the performance during a 12-month The closing down of winter indoor and outdoor period from October the previous year to the community sport in Australia and most national following September, covering a summer and and international competitions has seen black tie winter season for sports. awards ceremonies traditionally held in November each year in Queensland, New South Wales, South Only Service to Sport awards and the induction Australia and Western Australia cancelled for this of new members and the elevation of an existing year. member to Legend status in the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame are not time bound. Queensland’s long-standing annual Sport Awards program of recognition and promotion of State sports federations in the States mentioned outstanding achievements of Queenslanders and above are considering how Hall of Fame Queensland in sport draws average attendances installations are handled in light of COVID-19 of 700 each November to the Brisbane Convention restrictions. Sportswatch - Winter 2020 5 Community Sport Australia collaborative engagement on Australian sport’s recovery from COVID-19 Directors of Community Sport Australia Ltd These State sports collectives have been working have asked Commonwealth and State / Territory for months in collaboration with their State Ministers for Sport to progress collection and Government sport and recreation agencies on consideration of data on the impact of COVID-19 dealing with COVID-19 impacts on State and on all levels of Australian sport now that winter local level sporting bodies and the road back based sporting competitions have resumed from closure to resumption of community sport across most jurisdictions.