Community sport is free to return this weekend, but not all clubs are taking up the offer.
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Northern NSW Football said on Friday that 28 Hunter soccer clubs had withdrawn completely or canned their "miniroos" teams for ages 4 to 11 in the face of COVID-19 safety requirements.
Registrations are down about 30 per cent, from 29,000 to 20,000, in the Hunter's most popular football code, which resumed competition on Friday night.
New Lambton, the region's largest soccer club, made the difficult decision last month to withdraw its non-elite teams amid uncertainty over whether it could manage crowds and social distancing.
One of the most contentious aspects of the government's COVID-19 Safety Plan for clubs was a requirement to keep a register of every player, volunteer and spectator at each ground.
For large clubs like New Lambton and Cooks Hill United playing on sprawling public parks, that requirement was next to impossible.
The state government added the words "where this is practical" to the register requirement in the safety plan this week, but the move came too late for New Lambton.
President Clayton Harrison said the club committee had been uncertain about its legal liability under the safety plan and doubted whether it would attract enough volunteers to wipe down dressing rooms, control crowds and meet other requirements.
"Even on a good day we struggle to get volunteers," he said.
Cooks Hill president Matt Helinski said the club had agreed to resume after a survey showed players and parents were keen.
"We've got a management plan in place that we've distributed to all the members, and I think moving to the level-three conditions it's a bit less daunting than before," he said.
"I think those conditions are very much around good hygiene and respecting each other's space. I think most of our members are pretty happy to follow that."
He said the club had never entertained keeping a register of people at National Park.
"That was something that we just couldn't do. We couldn't promise that we were able to do that," he said.
"We've been promoting the COVIDSafe app and things like that.
"We will try and put some systems in place at our enclosed grounds, but certainly down at National Park it's pretty beyond our control."
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Grounds are limited to one person every four square metres, excluding playing fields, to a maximum of 500 people, but it is unclear how and if the rule will be policed.
Northern NSW Football says it draws a distinction between what it terms community football, where spectators are predominantly family and friends, and its elite competitions, where fans often pay to enter.
The association says tracing parents and friends who attend community football will be easier than finding out who was at a National Premier Leagues match.
NNSWF is distributing barcode machines to NPL clubs so they have a record of who enters their grounds.
Maitland have opted not to play in Newcastle and Hunter Rugby Union's makeshift Rams Cup men's competition from August 1.
Newcastle Rugby League cancelled its first-grade competition a month ago for the first time since World War I, but junior and lower-level competitions are scheduled to start on July 18.
Newcastle Netball Association will resume on July 25 with an abbreviated 10-week season, but players can bring only one spectator to the National Park courts.
President Cheryl Hernando said the state government had ruled that the three clusters of courts at National Park could each have 500 players, volunteers and spectators.
Charlestown association will also resume on July 25 and is still working out how to manage spectator numbers.
A Charlestown representative said the competition's courts might not be able to accommodate even one spectator per player, creating headaches for parents of young netballers.
She said some players had indicated they would prefer not to play if their supporters could not attend games.
SPORT RETURNS
Basketball: Newcastle juniors July 1, seniors July 6
Football: Community football July 3, abbreviated elite competitions July 11
Rugby league: Juniors and non-elite competitions July 18, top level cancelled
Hockey: July 18
AFL: July 18
Netball: July 25 (Newcastle, Charlestown)
Rugby union: Juniors July 25, special seniors Rams Cup August 1
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