THE VICS COLUMN – by Peter Tonge

WELL, football seems as far away as ever as the League have decided, due to the new Government Covid tier system, that league matches can’t start on December 5th as previously planned.

Although Vics, being in a Tier 2 area, would be allowed to stage a match in front of 300 spectators, the majority of clubs in the league are in Tier 3 where spectators wouldn’t be allowed.

As clubs at this level depend heavily upon gate receipts to pay match fees as well as player and staff wages, it would simply be financial suicide for these clubs to be playing at an empty stadium.

The proposed new restart date is now December 19, when Vics are scheduled to be at home to Bootle.

As players will have been ‘on the bench’ as it were with no team training for 6 weeks or so, match fitness will be a major issue by then.

Whether we are allowed to arrange a friendly match before the restart date, or whether we‘re pitched into a competitive match straightaway is up for debate .

Last Saturday saw the first stage of the Vixens/Vics Christmas Challenge with the aim to raise money. All proceeds raised will be split between the Mid Cheshire Foodbank and the Salvation Army, who work tirelessly all year round to help those who need it most.

This first challenge involved players, staff and even supporters of both clubs seeing how many keepy-uppies they could do in 24 hours.

Videos of their efforts can be seen on the respective clubs’ Twitter accounts – @northwichvicsfc and @northwichvixens.

So far, we are proud to have raised more than double our initial target of £500 and there is still time to donate at our Vixens and Vics Christmas Challenges JustGiving page.

Big thanks go to both clubs committees – especially Emma and Rebecca from the Vixens and Paul from Vics – for all the hard work they have done to enable this brilliant initiative to happen and to raise so much money for two worthwhile causes.

The second part of the challenge will take place between December 2-9, when players, staff and supporters will complete a 5k Santa Dash, preferably dressed as Santa or an elf or even in a Christmas jumper.

We’ve taken great pride in re-establishing our historical links with the Vixens over the last few months and so proud to be working together on the first of many projects and community-based initiatives.

This is something we both feel so passionate about – this community-based ethos and the subsequent work we can do together can only help strengthen the great relationship we have with each other but more importantly, help the town and surrounding area.