Central Coast Mariners are aiming to step their community support operations up a notch to assist Gosford locals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp told ABC News that the club's existing staff, assisted by the Australian government's JobKeeper wage subsidy payments, would be proactively attempting to help their local community.
"Those staff that are able to come in for one or two days a week, we'll be able to speak to members, do deliveries for our senior citizens in the region, help them with internet issues, or just have a general chat and touch base to make sure that they're all okay," he said.
"It's something that the chairman (UK-based Mike Charlesworth) is really passionate about, that all resources at the club during this period of time need to be focused on community work.
"The JobKeeper [subsidy] will increase the resources that we have to throw back into the community right now."
Mielekamp also said that he wanted to keep any off-contract players on the Mariners' books in order to ensure they remained eligible for the JobKeeper payments.
"If there's the opportunity to have a short-term bridging extension to the contract, that could benefit some of the players that are coming off contract," he said.
"And as we move into thinking about a new season, a lot of those issues are going to be really important."
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