How exciting that the season has started across the state in March.  Inverell hosted a very well supported Top Gun Coaching Clinic on the 6th and 7th. Wet weather has meant a couple of wash outs on Saturday night. Congratulation to those clubs who successfully held carnivals, Moss Vale, Braidwood, Lake George and Walcha. Unfortunately Guyra have had to reschedule due to the rain. Around the Grounds Easter update will feature articles and photos from these events. 

April will start with a big Easter weekend of fun at Inverell in the north, followed by a massive few days at Albury incorporating the COVID Cup, junior coaching, Silver Stirrup, Bronze Bit and Silver Spur.  The following weekend Yass will be hosting a club carnival for those not making the trek north to Barastoc.  Good luck to all NSW selected players for a fun and successful Barastoc competition. All roads will lead to Burradoo for the last weekend in April. 

PANSW has received advice of a Strangles outbreak in parts of the Hunter Valley.  Below is a fact sheet from the Dept of Primary Industries with some very pertinent advice re protection when attending events and preventing the spread of the disease.  PANSW advises members to follow the DPI guidelines for treatment and horse welfare.

Congratulations and thank you to the following members who will make up our selection committees for 2021.

PANSW would like to remind members of the requirements under the Local Land Services Act 2013 for the transport of horses. There are reports of increased checks on vehicles transporting horses.

In response to feedback from the membership, the PA NSW Board and Council have adopted a user pays system for representative polocrosse including events such as the Nationals, Barastoc, and the Albury-Holbrook COVID Cup.  This approach has been adopted to ensure that the State’s component of the annual player membership fees are kept as low as possible for all of the State’s members.  This approach, along with other centralised cost-cutting measures, has already allowed for a $50 reduction in the annual fee for senior members for the 2021 season.

Balanced against this; the Board remains committed to supporting youth development in a financially self-supporting way.  To this effect, the Board has been working hard in the background to attract sponsors to our sport, particularly for the purposes of youth development.  As a result of these efforts, the Board is pleased to announce that Kelato Animal Health (https://www.kelato.com.au/) and Trans-Australian Livestock & Freight Management (https://www.talfm.com.au/) have come on board as State-level sponsors for the Royal Easter Show and Albury-Holbrook COVID Cup, respectively.  Their sponsorship means that the State can waive nomination fees for both of these events, while still maintaining them as financially independent.

Kelato Animal Health would also like to extend their support to our sport by offering a 10% discount to PA NSW members that order through their online store (https://www.kelato.com.au/) using the code “PANSW” at checkout. 

Please support our sponsors and make sure that when you do, you tell them that you’re from Polocrosse NSW.  This simple act makes a huge difference when we approach them to support our sport. The Board is very excited about resumption of our sport in the coming weeks and continues to work hard in the background to support the membership at all levels from Club through to International polocrosse.

PANSW is calling for expressions of interest for major events in 2022.  It is proposed to have a calendar for major events in place at least 2 years in advance.  Any clubs wishing to host anything other than regular club competition tournaments are asked to submit an EOI with dates to seo@nswpolocrosse.com.au.  We would also like to hear from any clubs interested in hosting the 2022 Zone or Club Championships.

In line with Section 2.7 of the Polocrosse Association of Australia (PAA), Policies and Procedures the PAA
Board is calling for Expressions of Interest from persons interested in undertaking the following roles:
· National Umpire;
· Horse Welfare Officer;
· National Coach Manager;
· Player Grading Review Committee;
Please provide Expressions of Interest in writing to neo@polocrosse.org.au by 10 April 2021.