Published May 10th, 2020
We are currently anticipating that the summer season will start on June 1st, however we will confirm this in the coming days after receiving final information from the Finnish government and Olympic Committee on what COVID-19 restrictions will exist for sports competitions.
In the meantime I can tell you that we have made a new version of the summer schedule which will hopefully enable us to hold the vast majority of the matches that we had originally planned, in spite of the loss of one full month of playing time. The schedule will be issued with in the coming days with the final confirmation mentioned above.
Unfortunately, due mainly to COVID-19 restrictions, it seems we are going to suffer a shortage of Panel Umpires this season, and therefore we will have to return to use of club umpires for many matches, and all participating clubs will be required to provide umpires for league matches. The scheduling of umpires will start this week and we will confirm how many club umpire duties are needed after the Panel Umpires have confirmed their availability, however please aim to have a minimum of four qualified and active umpires within your club, and more if possible. The training will also be of benefit to all players, as it will educate them on the Laws of the game and how umpires see and make decisions, so we encourage as many as possible to attend and become qualified.
It is already 2 years since we last held any umpire training, and therefore all club umpires must attend a 4-hour refresher course that we will hold online on the weekend of 23rd and 24th May. The course will be hosted by Sriharsha Kuchimanchi and will cover basic umpiring skills and give information on the 2020 updates to the CF Playing Conditions. If your club umpires are already active Panel Umpires they do not need to attend the course. Please note that umpiring of league matches in 2020 will only be permitted for umpires who have completed this training, or who are already active Panel Umpires.
We are arranging two separate online events, via Zoom, and each umpire only needs to attend one of the events. There is a small fee for each registration to help cover the costs CF is incurring for arranging the training.
- The first event is on Saturday 23rd May from 09:00 to 13:00. The deadline for registering is 23:59 on 21st May!
- The second event is on Sunday 24th May from 13:00 to 17:00. The deadline for registering is 23:59 on 22nd May!
Please announce this news inside your clubs and encourage your members to register for the training. The participation of clubs and umpires this summer will be a critical factor in CF being able to provide the planned league schedule this year, so please encourage your members to help as much as possible.
