Statement by Andrew Woodward, General Manager, North Coast Football
Hi everyone, we need to talk about the weather.
We’re as frustrated as you at this weather and its impact on our competitions. I understand we’re getting into the territory of ‘record rainfall’ for the area. We need to put things in perspective:
Coffs Coast rainfall situation: Since the start of this year, Coffs Harbour has had 1,534 mm of rain as of last Friday. The average annual rainfall for Coffs is 1,699 mm. So, by the end of this month, we will have had our total average yearly rainfall in just four months.
Grafton rainfall situation: The mean annual rainfall (mm) for Grafton is 1077.1. Year-to-date, Grafton has received 1055mm in 92 days
Just when we think we have a draw settled or a field is free, we’re advised that another field won’t be useable for several weeks. This has a cascading impact across all divisions and venues.
We have over 25 divisions, 24 clubs, 300 teams and over 5,000 players, and one change can’t be incorporated at the push of a button. All draw changes are manual. I apologise that we don’t have out what we planned to, but if we put out what we had ‘today’, there’s good to be wrong by the end of the week. For want of a better phrase, the situation is very fluid.
Councils are working hard to try and get fields ready, but they too are thwarted by the weather. They too are running out of options. They too are frustrated. They’re also trying to cater for us and other sports.
Only a relatively minor amount of rain is forecast for the rest of this week, but it is forecast to be cloudy, meaning fields won’t dry.
All of our weather announcements are online at www.ncf.link/weather and www.coastal.football/weather .
That’s it for now. I am sorry I can’t be more positive or informative. NCF, your clubs and councils are working hard to get you playing as soon as we can.
ENDS
