UPDATED SMOKE POLICY 2020

January 9, 2020 - 4 years ago

We are in the midst of an unprecedented Bushfire season which has resulted in plenty of smoke haze and plumes. We have worked hard to come up with a policy and procedures that puts our players and staff’s health first. But, we want to ensure you get the games you paid for, while working with the tight availabilty of venues. 

Flexibility with rescheduling: Our priority is making sure you get the amount of games in the season that you registered for (Usually 10). In a situation like this where some games may not be played due to smoke, this may mean we need to be creative, as some of our bookings with venues have strict time frames. If you miss games due to smoke your team may need to play a double header - or in extreme circumstances - if multiple games are postponed due to smoke we may need to play make up games on another night of the week. We will always try our best to make sure we come up with a solution that works for your team. 

Here’s how we will be handling smoke in 2020. Please note this policy is for outdoor sports, indoor sports will go ahead as usual unless you hear otherwise. 

• Firstly and most importantly if your team does not feel comfortable playing in the conditions but you have been advised that games are going ahead, let us know via email [email protected] or phone us (preferably with as much notice as possible) and we will then do everything we can to reschedule your game in the upcoming weeks. There will be no forfeit or default fees but we ask you give us as much notice as possible so we can organise a game for your opposition. Please do not let us know via the captains chat as we will endeavour to get your opposition a game and it causes confusion. 
• For the foreseeable future whilst the smoke conditions are unpredictable, we will be communicating to the Captains Chats on whether games are going ahead that night. We will endeavour to make the first call by 4pm. 
• We use this website to monitor AQI. If the AQI is above 200 we will postpone games. [Note we use this website as the NSW Health website uses a 24 hour average scale which is different to the widely used and trusted AQI Index. The numbers on the NSW website are always extremely high compared to other sites. You can read more about this here].
• If games are postponed we will try our hardest to get your new schedule to you within 2 days. 

If you have heart, lung or any health condition that may be affected by smoke we recommend you consult your doctor to see if playing sport is right for you. 

What we learnt last year that has influenced our new policy

• Often smoke haze is strong during the day, but quickly clears at night. Meaning if the smoke is touch and go, we may make a call later than usual
• We always want to continue games. If you’re keen and it’s safe to do so, games will be going ahead. Some players and teams had concerns and that’s totally fine that’s why it is always your choice to play or not.