Sounds reasonable given the circumstances. Means the national championship has a chance of happening even if Auckland's border isn't open (until the finals anyway).
Classic NZ Football, wise enough to gibe a hard and fast cutoff date in once instance: "where full contact training is possible by 3 November"
But don't have the foresight to prevent issues like: "a sufficient return to play period for North Shore United has been undertaken"... why not give an exact number of days that constitutes a sufficient period to play?
Classic NZ Football, wise enough to gibe a hard and fast cutoff date in once instance: "where full contact training is possible by 3 November"
But don't have the foresight to prevent issues like: "a sufficient return to play period for North Shore United has been undertaken"... why not give an exact number of days that constitutes a sufficient period to play?
Well, between the Nov 3 deadline and the Nov 20 start date for the 'Auckland Hubs' you can figure it's roughly two weeks. But it they keep trying to keep that Chatham Cup semifinal alive into December (which would be rough on Cashmere Technical if the NLC doesn't start) it would mean longer time away from training and they would likely need a longer return-to-play period.
Alternatively NZF could schedule the Miramar vs North Shore semi-final to be held on October 30th and if North Shore cannot travel, Miramar progress by default. Play the final in either Wellington or Christchurch. Tough on North Shore but Covid has made life difficult and some difficult decisions need to be taken. NZ Rugby was able to make such decisions when removing the three northern provincial sides from both the Farah Palmer Cup and the NPC. The Chatham Cup 2021 Regulations give NZF complete licence to make such a decision under the force majeure criterion (Clause 22). Will they step up?