UPDATE: 6.15pm, Thursday 6 August
All Newcastle Jets Academy games scheduled for this coming weekend (8-9 August) across NPL NSW Women’s 1, NPL NSW Youth 2 and NPL NSW Mens 2 have been postponed in light of the positive test of a young player in the Club’s system on Wednesday.
In addition, all Academy training has been cancelled for the remainder of this week, and next week commencing Monday 10 August.
This will allow health authorities to conduct their extensive contact tracing procedures, as well as enabling young players and their close contacts from our Academy to undergo COVID-19 testing.
The ongoing health situation throughout NSW will be monitored by the Club and Football NSW in the coming days, and decisions surrounding immediate training and games programs of the Club’s Academy teams will be made in due course, in consultation with advice from the relevant authorities.
Academy Technical Director, Craig Deans said the decision was in the best interest of all parties.
“It’s not just us, but it’s also best for opposition clubs if we don’t proceed with this weekend’s games as a precaution,” Deans said.
“A number of Academy parents are working in essential service roles, and the last thing we want to do as a Club is put undue pressure on players or parents to be travelling throughout Newcastle and Sydney in light of what’s happened in the last 24 hours.
“I feel that it’s important that the Club errs on the side of caution at the moment, until we have a clearer picture of the health situation as a whole in Newcastle and NSW over the next week.”
ORIGINAL STATEMENT BELOW
Newcastle Jets can confirm that a player in its Academy has tested positive for COVID-19.
The player’s close contacts, including fellow teammates and the coaches of the team in question, are currently following Public Health protocols for a confirmed case of COVID-19.
At this stage, ALL Academy training has been cancelled for the remainder of the week and this weekend’s game will be reviewed pending advice from Public Health and Football NSW.
The decision to cancel training was made by the Club, taken as a precaution to our players and staff while contract tracing is undertaken.
Public Health has informed the Club that the player’s teammates, coach, and manager must self-isolate for a 14-day period, which has commenced.
The player did not attend Academy training at Hunter Sports High School while infectious.
Newcastle Jets CEO, Lawrie McKinna, thanked Public Health for their swift response.
“Since we were made aware of the positive case, Public Health has been nothing short of amazing in dealing with this and we want to thank them for their work,” McKinna said.
“Our Academy sides have been following guidelines from the NSW Government and Football NSW around playing games in Sydney, and we haven’t put any pressure on our players to travel to Sydney if they did not wish.
“The most important person in this situation is our young player with the virus, and we wish him all the best.”
There are no concerns regarding any contact with our Hyundai A-League squad given the competition’s strict biosecurity reguluations, and our upcoming clash with Wellington Phoenix has not been impacted.
