On the afternoon of Wednesday 1st April and the evening of Thursday 2nd April Oxfordshire Cricket held two Clubs & Leagues Conference Calls with Chairmen, Secretaries and committee members of clubs to provide information on support available during the current Covid-19 crisis. The calls were attended by 29 clubs from across Oxfordshire as well as representatives from the leagues that service Oxfordshire clubs. One of the main topics on these calls was to share the headline information of financial support available through Government, Sport England and ECB, the link to the summary of these calls is below: –

Clubs & Leagues Conference Calls

Today (17th April) the ECB have released the details of the two Emergency Support Schemes that are open to cricket clubs affiliated to Oxfordshire Cricket, these two schemes are an Emergency Loan Scheme and a Return to Cricket Grant Scheme.

Emergency Loan Scheme

The Emergency Loan Scheme aims to support affiliated cricket clubs during the COVID-19 crisis by providing funding to assist covering any shortfall in essential day-to-day running and maintenance costs for a period of up to 12 months.

Clubs with a junior section (including All Stars Cricket / Dynamos Cricket) can apply for between £1,000 and £5,000, while clubs with an adult section only can apply for between £1,000 and £3,000.

Clubs can apply by clicking the following link Emergency Loan Scheme, but before applying, it is highly recommended that clubs read the Emergency Loan Scheme guidance notes.

Return to Cricket Grant Scheme

The Return to Cricket Grant Scheme aims to provide cricket clubs and leagues with assistance in exceptional circumstances, where other potential sources of financial support are not available, e.g. constitutionally a loan is not an option or there is a high risk of default in paying back a loan. The scheme is to provide funding to assist covering any shortfall in essential day-to-day running and maintenance costs for a period of up to 12 months.

Clubs that are prevented from taking out an Emergency Loan by their own constitution or articles can apply BUT must have an annual turnover of less than £15,000. Cricket leagues, both open-age or junior, can also apply to the scheme.

Clubs and leagues can apply for:

Clubs with an adult section only can apply for up to £1,000, leagues (open-age or junior) up to £2,000 and clubs with a junior section (including All Stars Cricket / Dynamos Cricket) can apply for up to £3,000.

Clubs and Leagues need to contact the Participation & Growth team, to discuss their situation and potential eligibility.

Before considering an application, it is highly recommended that clubs and leagues read the Return to Cricket Grant Scheme guidance notes to determine if they are eligible to apply.

Full details of both schemes can be found at Emergency Support Schemes

Affiliation

In order to be eligible for either of the above schemes, as well as Sport England Funding, clubs need to be affiliated to Oxfordshire Cricket. Affiliation is only £20 per year, and as well as access to funding/grant opportunities it provides access to direct 1 to 1 club support from the Participation & Growth team, the right to enter teams into Oxfordshire Cricket youth and adult competitions, nominate players for our player pathway and many others.

For more information on affiliation and how to affiliate please see the affiliation page on our website, which can be found at Oxfordshire Cricket Affiliation 2020. If you are unsure if your club has affiliated for 2020 please contact Tim Haworth, Finance Manager on [email protected] to find out.

Safeguarding Support

All Club Safeguarding Officers either new to their role or due for renewal of their Safe Hands training between 1st March 2020 and 31st July 2020 will now be asked to complete a free, online Safeguarding Young Cricketers course (SYC). Access to this course will be provided in due course. For those that have already completed the SYC course for another role, there is no requirement for you to repeat the SYC Course.

DBS ID verifications can now be done online, so anyone who needs to have their ID verified for their DBS check can now have it done online via a video call. For a list of verifiers in Oxfordshire who can provide an online ID verification please see DBS ID Verification

Additional Guidance

As well as direct club support from Oxfordshire Cricket and funding support from ECB, other useful areas of support can be found below.

Government Financial Support can be found at Government Support. A number of clubs across Oxfordshire have already successfully applied for Government support, in particular business rate relief. Please check if your club is eligible for any Government support, which is accessed through your Local Authority.

Club Matters can be found at Club Matters. Club Matters provides guidance on keeping sports clubs running, keeping in touch with members and/or customers and provides case studies for what other sports clubs are doing across the country.

Sport England Community Emergency Fund can be found at Community Emergency Fund. This fund is open to all sports clubs and community groups in England, for grants between £300 and £10,000. Sport England have stated that they will only fund clubs, groups or organisations that are most at risk.

Active Oxfordshire’s Support & Recovery Service can be found at Support & Recovery Service. Every Wednesday Active Oxfordshire will be running webinars for clubs and coaches on various topics of support.

Institute of Groundsmanship Grounds Maintenance Guidance can be found at IOG Guidance. The latest update on grounds maintenance during Covid-19.

Activity Booklet and Create Development. Over the last few weeks Oxfordshire Cricket have been releasing activities from its own activity book for children young and old to complete and to keep them in touch with cricket. Oxfordshire Cricket have also partnered with Create Development to provide access to real PE at home, a free resource which includes an online programme which supports families to be active, play and learn together. For full details on both the activity book and real PE at home please see the following links: –

• real PE at home
• Activity Booklet 1
• Activity Booklet 2

Next Steps

Oxfordshire Cricket are continuing to work to the three main objectives during the Covid-19 pandemic, which are: –

• The wellbeing of everyone involved in cricket in Oxfordshire
• Keeping cricket in business
• Making tough decisions for the greater good

We will continue to update you with the most up to date and relevant information as and when available, and will in the very near future be putting on our second round of Clubs & Leagues Conference Calls. In the meantime please don’t hesitate to contact us directly for any support, advice or guidance on club matters as we are here to support or signpost in any way possible.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support and hope that you and your family continue to stay safe.

The latest government advice can also be accessed by the below link:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
 

Oxfordshire Cricket Contacts
Matt Barnes – Performance Cricket Manager [email protected]
Tim Haworth – Finance Manager [email protected]
Nick Pinhol – Marketing and Communications Officer [email protected]