Due to the huge rise in COVID-19 cases and with the new virus variant appearing to be out of control in London, the home counties and the south east, the Club now feel we have no choice but to act as quickly as possible to follow every government, local authority and safety advisory group guideline and directive to the letter.
So, following yesterday and this morning’s announcements, it is clear that we may in fact remain in this new tier 4 for many months to come, which means we must now take control of the controllable, at Meadow Park at least. Rest assured that we are undertaking all we possibly can to avoid any cases of COVID-19 at Boreham Wood FC, in order to stop ourselves on a football front from being shut down, in these ridiculously difficult and troubled times.
As such the Club is doing everything we can to discourage anyone from outside of tier 4 from travelling into the Town or to our Football Club for any reason unless deemed absolutely essential and their role cannot be performed remotely. This will also relate to our First Team staff and their training and match day schedules.
The Club’s staff members were informed last night by our Chairman Danny Hunter, that we are to operate with a skeleton workforce onsite here at Meadow Park, other than match days, with all other staff having been instructed to work from home until further notice.
We have also been asked by our local authority Hertsmere Borough Council to remind our community and our supporters of the safety measures in place, please remember to keep your space, wear a mask and wash your hands regularly in order to help slow the transmission of the virus. The Club understands this is a very difficult time, especially with the revised heightened Christmas period restrictions, but please follow the latest tier 4 guidelines put in place by the government in order to get this latest virus variant under control.
MEDIA
We are hoping that our local BBC Three Counties Radio team will accept our offer to cover every Boreham Wood FC home league and cup game free of charge, which will be accessible to all home and away supporters.
In addition to this, we will allow any visiting club access to all match day photographs taken by our photographer again free of charge, who will be asked to take match photos and action shots for both clubs.
We will also provide both home and away fans with what is now our new normal match day live stream, complete with match commentary including guest commentator and a match day e-programme, for just £9.99, or free to all of our existing adult and OAP season ticket holders. Our live stream will be made available to away media (club affiliated only) free of charge so they can perform their roles remotely, too.
ASTRO
Following the announcement of tier 3 locally in Hertsmere earlier this week, the Club was buoyant that this allowed our astro pitch facility to remain open for hirers, however the latest tier 4 restrictions will only allow for organised outdoor sports for under 18’s.
Under tier 3 restrictions the Club had planned to close the astro pitch facility from Wednesday 23rd December through to Monday 4th January, which will remain in force however under the new tier 4 restrictions, the facility with immediate effect until further notice will only allow for individual use, household use or for organised team sport for under 18’s.
AWAY DAY LIVE STREAM INITIATIVE
Unfortunately, the new guidelines under tier 3 and tier 4 do not allow for the continuation of our popular away day live stream events that have been well received, with all spaces taken up this season to date. Once tier 4 restrictions are lowered, whenever that may be, the Club will inform supporters of the recommencement of this well-liked event accordingly, should we deem it safe to do so. Thank you to all those Wood fans who had supported this event to date.
THANK YOU
Sadly, whilst the severity of this latest virus variant has come to light, our Chairman has also informed us, that our longstanding main sponsor Barnet & Southgate College have decided through their own understandable financial constraints, that they cannot justify renewing their main sponsorship with us when their present deal expires in June 2021.
On behalf of everyone at Boreham Wood FC, we would like to thank Barnet & Southgate College for their many years of collaboration in what’s been an amazing partnership, we hope we can finish our last season together on a positive note on and off the pitch, and we wish them nothing but success in the future…
Lastly, we’d also like to publicly thank our Chairman Danny Hunter for his consistent, caring and safety-first leadership approach during these very strange and difficult times. We wish to thank him for reassuring all staff once again, that our jobs are safe and it’s only ours and our families health and well-being over Christmas period that’s concerning him.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
As a management team and workforce, from our executive office to the bar, from the maintenance department to our dressing room, and from our study suites, tutors and students, we would like to thank our community for your continued support of both the staff’s and player’s efforts. The Club over this festive period would like to wish you all a very safe, happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.
We also wish to apologise to everyone for any inconvenience caused by this Club Statement, but we mitigate that by saying we’ve acted as quickly as possible after yesterday’s very late government announcement of a new tier 4 category, which needed to be firstly understood before trying to implement what is or isn’t allowed.
So, whether you are a home or away supporter, we apologise for any disruption caused. Again, if you’re an astro pitch hirer we apologise, too. Please respect we are like you, living in extremely difficult and ever-changing times and we are all doing our best to follow the guidelines given, while putting everyone’s safety, health and well-being first as this must be our number one priority.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
– Boreham Wood FC Management
