Chairman’s Diary: Latest from a good week of football progress at Ochilview

Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy writes for you.
Iain McMenemyIain McMenemy
Iain McMenemy

This time six months ago, few of us would have thought that we would become video calling aficionados in such a short space of time. However, as video calls replaced face to face meetings due to COVID-19, this technology has become part of our daily routine.

On Monday night it was a pleasure to hold a video call with the new squad of players at Stenhousemuir FC as we finalised plans to start pre-season training. Under normal circumstances, I’d have met with them for the first training session at Ochilview, but despite the progress we’ve made as a nation, we’re still not at a point we’d call normal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Therefore, a video call was the best we could do as we went through final arrangements. On the following night, the squad arrived at Ochilview as per the new COVID protocols and the first training session got underway. It was great to get back to football. It felt like we had achieved a significant milestone considering where we all were five months ago.

The continuing progress that is being made in the fight against the virus has also meant that we can ramp up the return of our community programmes. This means that we can train in larger groups and include more contact-based activity. I know that those taking part welcome these changes and have been desperately keen to get playing games again.

Despite the fact that things aren’t wholly back to normal, progress over the past few weeks has made a difference and we can see the positive impacts. The next stage will hopefully be permission to hold friendlies during pre-season, and some test events with crowds at football and rugby matches. These are the next milestones that could lead towards fans being allowed back by October. It certainly feels like it was a week of good progress, with hopefully more to come.

Related topics: