A letter from the CEO

Dear Members and Supporters

I hope you are all well and looking after yourselves.

I wanted to provide an update on the Club’s response to the current COVID-19 situation. This is an unprecedented situation and has produced plenty of new challenges for us all.

Earlier this week the SANFL confirmed the 2020 season will be postponed until at least May 31. This includes the SANFL Men’s and Under 18s competitions and the SANFLW season that was already underway. SANFL have cancelled the Under 16 competition that was only two rounds in. Our players will not be training until we have more information about how to proceed.

We understand your disappointment, our players and staff are devastated about the impact this situation is having on everyone involved. More than anything, we believe it is important that we follow the best advice that is available to us and play our part in a community response to stop the spread of this virus.

What we are doing at the moment;

• Our football department are meeting regularly to plan and advise players of the latest information available
• We are working through the many football and financial issues that this situation has brought about
• Reviewing operations of the licensed club and all areas of our business to limit our costs

As I am sure you can understand, many questions may be difficult to answer in such a fast moving environment so we ask for your patience as we understand everything ourselves.

We will be looking at ways to connect our members with our football club in new and exciting ways. We hope to have a range of member exclusive content which will be available to help keep you up to date with Westies while there is no footy to come and watch.

We ask for your continued support of the club and our corporate partners, many of which have shown their unwavering support of West Adelaide during this time.

We want to thank our members – you have always stuck with us. It has proved to be a difficult few years on the field but what has lasted is the bond between our players and members. This is critical to our club in the future. I can assure you that as this situation changes, we are considering our members and partners with every new development.

We have been humbled by some of the immediate responses from those fans who have contacted the Club in the last few days and as joined as members. We need your support now more than we ever have.

On behalf of everyone at the Club, including all players and staff, please look after yourself and act responsibly. Look after those around you and we look forward to having you back at Hisense Stadium cheering on the mighty Bloods again soon.

Ben Hopkins

Chief Executive Officer