The news of a potential commencement to the season in a couple of months has buoyed the Tamworth Rugby Union Sporting Club 'family' - and wider rugby fraternity for that matter - but president Mitch Hanlon would like a bit more clarity around an exact date.
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Late on Friday the NSW Rugby Union announced it was targeting a July return to the field (subject to federal, state and local governments lifting or significantly easing restrictions related to COVID-19) but didn't specify any dates.
Also the vice-president of the New England Rugby Union, Hanlon, while welcoming the news, said until they have a clear cut date it is hard to plan a competition.
In saying that, he said it has certainly lifted everyone's spirits.
It's given them something tangible to work towards.
Since the season was postponed the club has been doing all it can to keep it's members engaged while in self-isolation, and limit the impact of the loss of income from gate takings and functions, and sponsorship.
One of the things they have come up with is a perpetual membership.
For a one-off cost of $250 supporters can essentially become a member for life. As well as supporting the club in what is a challenging time, the membership will provide a range of benefits including free gate access to all home games (except for finals and representative games), membership discounts on merchandise and club events and a special VIP membership card.
"When this whole crisis started to rear up there were two things we needed to worry about. One was the club finances and the other was our players' health, and our club's membership and communities' general health," Hanlon said.
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"And we saw this as a way to engage with our rugby community."
Hanlon said they have been overwhelmed by the response. They've had from life members, who want to contribute, to younger members with families signing up for the perpetual memberships.
It is a testament that people are buying into the values of the club, and has helped them "build social cohesion".
"That's the best benefit of it," Hanlon said.
"I know it's going to give us some money in the bank but it means also you're going to have this long term commitment from the people in the club."
Having only just got back on a good financial footing the lockdown has been a set-back but he is confident they will get through it.
As he has done with his own business (Hanlon is the managing director and owner of Mitchel Hanlon Consulting), he said they have changed their business model to fit the income that they can get.
"We've stopped spending money on things that we would normally be spending money on," he said.
They have effectively shut up shop, turning off fridges and the like, to cut down some of the running costs. About the only thing that are actually still paying for is the maintenance of the ground.
"We've paid our groundsman up until August," Hanlon said.
The irony of it is that thanks to the recent rainfall the ground is looking the best Hanlon said he has "seen it in years" but they can't play on it.
