Welcome to the February edition of our In Touch Newsletter!

We would like to kick off this newsletter by wishing our South Island Matatū team the best of luck as they travel to Taupō later this week to take part in the inaugural women's super rugby competition. Their first game is against the Highlanders this weekend on Saturday. Full details of the draw can be accessed here.

As many of you will know, our South Island women's representative team features many of our CFC Women and with the success and talent we saw last season in our girls only U11-13 team, we hope this is a tradition we continue to see for years to come! To see the full Matatū squad list click here

If you haven't already, you can sign up to support the women by becoming a Foundation Member of Matatū by clicking here.

As the world continues to present more and more challenges to us, the role of our local community and the support we can offer each other remains more important than ever. You'll hear from Viv, our Club Chairman below, about some of the progress we are making to continue to develop and evolve our great club - please support us in making these changes a success wherever you can!

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to 2022 season from the CFC Board team. As Chairman, I wanted to give you an update of what has been happening in recent months.

From a CFC perspective a lot has changed over the last couple of months and as we lead into this season it is important that we start to communicate where things are at.  The board has met regularly to get on top of what we need to do to ensure we remain one of the top clubs in New Zealand.

A lot of work is being done by the Junior and Senior Rugby and Netball organisers to ensure we have another great season.  If you have been down the club, the grounds are looking great thanks to all the work John and key suppliers have been putting into it, so really looking forward to seeing rugby being played on at Christchurch Park. A reminder that our grounds are officially closed and you may not access or use them without specific permission. This is to ensure the hard work and money invested is not wasted and the grounds are in as good a condition as possible, once the season gets underway!

At this point I also want to thank the volunteers who also make our complex look great, excellent work by everyone.

From a personnel perspective there been some changes.  Recently Ryan Portsmouth resigned as Complex Manager to pursue a new role in Australia.  With this role vacant the board are taking the opportunity to look at how things run at the football club and look at what we can do to improve things as well as what is the best structure going forward.  Due to Covid impact on the clubrooms and motel bookings, we have not immediately replaced the Complex Manager as we work through this.  In the very short term Nic Flint will cover off this activity as best as possible but support for Nic during this time is also important and we are working through that as well.

We have been working closely with the CFC World board and they have been hugely supportive of the club.  With this support we are undertaking some renovation and improvements to the club.  These include a full kitchen renovation and upgrade, improvements to Physiotherapy rooms and some ongoing maintenance activity.  This is to ensure we are looking after and improving what we have, which you will all agree is very important.

As club members there is an ongoing need for your support on a couple of fronts in our club: -

Firstly, supporting the clubrooms and motels is very important and you can do this by promoting the facilities through family, friends and businesses and any help here is much appreciated. There is a little more info and some links below if relevant.

Secondly like all clubs we would not survive without sponsorship.  We have some great sponsors, but we also need more to ensure we can support all players in the club across rugby and netball in the best way we can.  Do not hesitate to contact Nic if you require further information on how you can support us (Nicola.flint@christchurchpark.co.nz / 021906833 ).

While things are changing very fast in regard to Covid 19 and the ongoing impact to all parts of our lives, it is important that everyone is aware of where we currently sit.  The club will follow and adhere to the guidelines as set out by NZ Government, Sport NZ and NZ Rugby.  At the moment the guideline advise all players over 12 years 3 months, coaches, managers and officials must have a vaccine pass to participate.

However, the recent indications are the vaccine pass may be less important soon, so we are asking everyone to register regardless of their vaccine pass status.  Attached is the latest link from the CRFU CEO and this should cover off questions and as things change, we will change with them.

Thank you to everyone for their ongoing support and look forward to a great season for the CFC and all the teams that participate wearing the red and black!!

Viv de Beus, Chairman CFC

2022  Rugby Registrations

If you were registered to play, coach or volunteer for 2021, you should have received an email to re-register for the 2022 season. If you haven't received an email, you're new to the club or would like to sign up, fill in the relevant link below - all are welcome!

Come get amongst it and see why we continue to be one of the biggest, best and most family friendly community clubs around!

Senior Rugby Registration

Junior & Teenage Rugby Rugby Registration

Senior & Junior Coach Registration

Manager/Admin/Volunteer Registration

Events & Christchurch Park Complex Bookings

We unfortunately have been juggling many cancelled motel and events bookings due to the Covid-19 situation, but despite the obstacles, we have had another busy month, supporting events and our local community groups wherever we can. In recent weeks, we have hosted a Christian Women's Fellowship Conference, St John's Ambulance, NZ Rugby team members and many other travelling guests.

Did you know that if you book an event or conference with us, we can provide discounts on accommodation pacakges? We can also offer preferential rates for existing Club Members, sponsors and visiting family. You can send any questions to us at manager@christchurchpark.co.nz or book directly via our website using the following link.

Posted with permission below, is an excerpt from a February Trip Advisor review of our motels, where we hosted 30 ladies for two day stay - we would absolutley love to have more events like these and please think about booking our facilities for any coporate or family events you may be considering in the near future!

"Womens fellowship conference

We had an amazing 2 days away for a retreat. Thank you so much for hosting us in your beautiful motel. The room was so nice and clean and very spacey. You guys went the extra mile to make us have an amazing time.  We will definitely be coming back ❤️ Ana"

Rugby Report

As we move into March, our focus turns to preseason games and getting ready to start the competition in the first weekend of April. There are some limitations with trainings and bubbles and this is something that we are going to have to learn to live with this year, but just a reminder that if you are feeling unwell, please let your coaches or managers know and stay away from training. It is also important that we sign into each training and bring your own Water Bottle. It is important that we stick to these guidelines to try and keep each other safe.

Preseason Games are as follows:

Div 1

Saturday 12^th March v Ashley Loburn domain 2.30pm

Saturday 19^th March v HSOB CFC 2.45pm

Friday 24^th March v Shirley venue TBC

Womens

Saturday 19^th March Game of 3 halves HSOB, Kaiapoi, Kaiapoi Club

Saturday 25^th March Grading Day

Div 2

Saturday 19^th March v Banks Peninsula, Little River 2.30pm

Colts

Saturday 19^th March v HSOB, CFC, 1pm

Friday 24^th March v Shirley Venue TBC

Unfortunately, we lost a game to be played this weekend against the Crusader U20’s as their program has been suspended for the foreseeable future because of covid.

All our coaches and managers are in place now for our premier teams, apart from an on-field manager for Div 1. If you are keen or know anyone that is keen, please let me know so we can get them settled in before the season starts.

Registrations are now open, everyone should have had an email if you were involved in a team last year, if not see the links included in this newsletter!

Fingers crossed the season keeps going ahead as planned, we get to watch some rugby and get into the clubroom for a beer and a yarn with mates.

Craig Dunlea

RDM

CFC Div 1 Jersey Sponsorship Opportunity

CFC Netball

Netball 2022 Committee

Firstly, we would like to say a massive heart felt thank you to Chrissy Willetts who has decided to step down from President of the club this year, she hasn’t moved far and has moved to be the clubs secretary/treasurer. I’m sure we are all in agreeance that without Chrissy the club would not be where it is today. From nearly folding years ago she has worked countless hours each season to rebuild this club to have the reputation it does today. We all thank you Chrissy and glad you are still around to guide us through this season. A celebration for Chrissy’s efforts will be later in the year.

With Chrissy stepping down the vote was made, and congratulations goes to Nic Samson who has been appointed President of CFC Netball. Nic has been with the club since 2003 originally as a player, injury turned her to coaching where last couple of years she has coached the clubs A team. She has been on the committee for the past 6 years and last year worked closely with Chrissy on all the background prep the club needs to do for the season to run as well as it does. I’m sure she will represent the club well.

We thank everyone that was keen to be on the committee and have to say it’s our biggest committee yet, which shows us that we all care about CFC Netball and the future of the club.

Your 2022 Committee is:

Will be another great year for CFC Netball, keep an eye out for all updates on our Facebook, Instagram, or website: https://www.sporty.co.nz/cfcnc/CFC-Netball

Junior Rugby Corner

Well, we're all getting ready for the season ahead, and  so far, registrations are going well! We continue to work with the CRFU and NZR to ensure we can provide a safe, friendly and inclusive environment to our families. Now, more than ever, we would encourage you to get involved and help out if you can, so we can continue to make our club a great environment for all.

The aim will be to start getting our families together for some pre-season activities and this will give us all a chance to start to organise our teams, make sure our families are happy and that (most importantly) we can have some fun! We will also use these events as opportunities to weigh our tackle grade players - more info will be emailed/put on social media in due course.

We thank those people who have been in touch to offer their time and assistance....we will shortly be sending out an invite to get everyone together and see how our new invigorated committee might look. This season, we want to make the most of our clubroom facilities and get as many of you down to enjoy our facilities as we practically can manage - this does mean volunteer support! If you think you can help or would like to get involved, please let us know by contacting cfcjuniors@christchurchpark.co.nz 

You can also help us by spreading the word and encouraging your friends and family to give rugby a go this season. We offer non-contact options for U11 and below and tackle options from U8+. With dedicated female teams for our U11+ players as well as mixed teams for our younger grades and teenage U14+ options too, we really can cater for everyone. All abilities are welcome!

Article added: Monday 28 February 2022