Athletics No Fans FCAD Letter

September 3, 2020

To all whom it may concern,

    The Franklin County Athletic Directors, FCAD, have decided to play the Fall 1 season with NO spectators at any events. This will include Field Hockey, Golf and Cross Country. While we understand that this is a tough pill to swallow, we believe that this decision will allow us to stay under the guidelines put forth by the EEA, DESE, and the State Government. We felt that it would be best to have a uniform decision made rather than leave it up to individual school districts to decide what to do for each competition. The goal of this Fall 1 season is to help student/athletes return to SOME sense of normalcy and to allow them the chance to play in the games that they love. By limiting exposure at games to only coaches, officials, players and game management, we feel that the chance of an outbreak will be decreased. Further details regarding this decision will come out from your local school in the following weeks but, rest assured, all schools are looking into ways to possibly broadcast/stream/record games for parents and fans to see.  Also, additional information about traditional events like Senior Nights will come from your local district. Please understand that all Athletic Directors thought long and hard about this decision and it was not taken lightly. While we understand the parents/fans desire to watch the games, we truly feel that the best way to allow this season, and hopefully future seasons, to remain in play, is to limit spectators. This decision will be looked at before we start the Winter sports season upon receiving new guidance from EEA, DESE and the Government as well as our own local and school metrics. 

Thank you for understanding,

Franklin County Athletic Directors

Athol, Franklin County Tech, Frontier, Greenfield, Hopkins, Mahar, Mohawk, Pioneer, Turners Falls, Smith Academy