Weather Policies & Extreme Conditions — GoClubPro

Training Module 107 | Heat, Lightning, Washouts, and Air Quality: Decision Protocols and Platform Communication

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What This Guide Covers

Weather decisions are among the highest-stakes calls a club makes: cancel too readily and you frustrate members and forfeit ladder points; play through dangerous conditions and you risk player welfare and insurance exposure. This module covers the decision frameworks for heat, lightning, rain, and air quality, who makes the call, and — the part the platform owns — how to communicate the decision fast enough that nobody drives to a cancelled game.

Primary audience: Club Admins, Coaches, Team Managers, Presidents See also: 73 Bye Rounds & Schedule Gaps · 59 Match Day Operations · 76 Incident Reporting & Duty of Care

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SECTION 1: WHO MAKES THE CALL

The Decision Hierarchy

The club's job is relay speed: most weather calls are made by someone outside the club. The club's responsibility is getting the decision to members within minutes, not hours — that's a platform workflow (Section 4).

Know your association's extreme weather policy before the season starts. Most associations publish heat and lightning policies with specific thresholds. File it in the committee Drive and link it from a pinned Noticeboard post at season start. When a mid-game call has to be made, you follow their policy — not a debate on the boundary line.

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SECTION 2: CONDITION-SPECIFIC PROTOCOLS

Heat

Most associations use a temperature or WBGT (wet bulb globe temperature) threshold system. A typical structure — check your own association's numbers:

Junior sport is stricter. Children regulate temperature less effectively than adults; junior thresholds are lower in nearly every code's policy. When in doubt with juniors, don't play.

Platform actions on a heat-modified day:

• Broadcast the modification the day before if forecast-driven: "Tomorrow's games shortened per [Association] heat policy — bring extra water"
• Note the modification in the fixture record so the shortened game is explainable later

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Lightning

The widely used standard is the 30/30 rule:

• If thunder follows lightning by 30 seconds or less (storm within ~10 km): clear the field immediately — players, officials, and spectators into hard-topped vehicles or substantial buildings (not trees, not open shelters)
• Resume no sooner than 30 minutes after the last thunder or lightning

Lightning is the one call that is never negotiable and never waits for a committee: any coach, umpire, or ground marshal can and should clear the field on the spot.

Platform action: After the fact, record the delay or abandonment in the fixture notes ("Abandoned R12 — lightning, 30/30 applied at [time]"). If abandoned, result handling follows association rules (Module 73).

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Rain and Ground Closures

Rain itself rarely cancels games — ground condition does. Councils close waterlogged grounds to protect surfaces, usually notifying the home club by Friday afternoon.

The Friday washout workflow:

1. Council or ground marshal advises closure
2. Home club notifies the association and opponent immediately
3. Broadcast to affected teams (template in Section 4)
4. Update or cancel the fixture in the Schedule so the app matches reality
5. If rescheduled: fresh availability check and squad rebuild (Module 105)

Saturday-morning calls: If the ground is borderline, set and communicate a decision deadline the night before — "call will be made by 8am, watch for a Broadcast." A known deadline stops the 7am message flood to the coach.

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Air Quality (Smoke and Dust)

Bushfire smoke has cancelled entire rounds in recent Australian summers. Use your state's air quality index (AQI):

Players with asthma need specific attention on smoke-affected days — coaches should know who they are (injury/medical notes, Module 41) and err on the side of resting them.

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SECTION 3: TRAINING SESSIONS

Weather calls for training are the coach's, and the same thresholds apply — there is no ladder-points pressure to justify training in dangerous conditions.

• Cancel via Broadcast to the team as early as the forecast allows (a 4pm call for 6pm training beats a 5:45 call)
• Cancel the session in the Schedule so the app is consistent with the message
• Indoor alternative? Say so in the same Broadcast — venue, time, what to bring

Habitual pattern to avoid: cancelling by group-chat only. Members who aren't in the chat (new players, some parents) arrive at an empty ground. The Broadcast + Schedule update is the canonical channel; the group chat is a supplement.

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SECTION 4: THE COMMUNICATION PLAYBOOK

Speed Is the Whole Game

A weather decision is only as good as its distribution. Target: every affected member notified within 15 minutes of the decision.

The three-step relay (do all three, in this order):

1. Broadcast to affected teams — push + email reaches everyone regardless of group-chat membership
2. Schedule update — cancel or amend the fixture/training so anyone checking the app sees the truth
3. Noticeboard post — the persistent record, catches anyone who missed the push

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Broadcast Templates

Game cancelled (day before):

"❌ CANCELLED — Round [X] vs [Opponent], [Date]. [Ground] closed by council due to [rain/conditions]. No game — do not travel. Reschedule details to follow. — [Name]"

Decision pending (night before):

"⚠️ Round [X] is weather-dependent. Final call by [8:00am] tomorrow via Broadcast. Do not travel before the call."

Heat modification:

"🌡️ Games ON tomorrow but modified per [Association] heat policy: [shortened quarters / extra breaks]. Bring extra water, hats, and sunscreen. Juniors: parents please stay at the ground."

Training cancelled:

"Training tonight ([Date]) is cancelled — [reason]. Next session as scheduled [Day]. — [Coach]"

Style rules: lead with the decision word (CANCELLED / ON / PENDING), name the round and date so it can't be misread as a different week, and say "do not travel" explicitly when that's the point.

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After the Event

• Fixture record updated with the outcome (cancelled / abandoned / modified) and reason
• Fees: no match played = no match fee — Treasurer verifies none were applied (Module 73)
• Any heat illness or injury during modified play: injury log + incident report (Modules 41, 76) — these records matter for insurance
• Rescheduled fixture: new date in Schedule + fresh availability check (Module 105)

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VISUAL: Weather Decision & Relay Flow

FORECAST / CONDITIONS RAISE A QUESTION
 │
 ▼
Whose call is it?
 Association-wide ─► wait for their notice, relay it
 Council closure ──► relay it
 At-ground call ───► apply association policy
 (heat thresholds / 30-30 lightning / AQI)
 │
 ▼
DECISION MADE
 │
 ▼ (within 15 minutes)
1. Broadcast to affected teams ── decision word first
2. Schedule updated ── app matches reality
3. Noticeboard post ── persistent record
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AFTERWARDS
 Fixture notes updated · no fees for unplayed games
 Incidents logged · reschedule = fresh availability check

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TOOLTIPS & HINTS

• File the association's weather policy pre-season — mid-game is not the time to look up heat thresholds
• Lightning: 30/30, no debate — anyone can clear the field; resume 30 min after the last strike
• Decision deadline beats decision silence — "call by 8am" stops the message flood
• Broadcast + Schedule + Noticeboard, in that order — group chat alone strands members who aren't in it
• Juniors get stricter thresholds — every code's policy says so; when in doubt, don't play
• No game = no match fee — Treasurer check after every washout

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FAQ

Q: The opposition wants to play but our coach thinks the heat is dangerous. Who wins? A: The association's heat policy wins. If conditions exceed its thresholds, the game doesn't proceed regardless of either club's preference — and an umpire or ground marshal applying the policy is backed by the association. If the policy is genuinely ambiguous, err on the side of player welfare and let the association sort out the result afterwards; a forfeited point is recoverable, a heat-stroke incident is not.

Q: We cancelled and some members showed up anyway. How do we stop that happening? A: Audit the three-step relay. Usually one step was skipped — most often the Schedule update (members who checked the app saw the game still on) or the Broadcast went to the wrong team filter. Also check whether the affected members have notifications enabled (Module 23); a season-start "make sure push is on" campaign fixes most of it.

Q: Does a washed-out game still count against a player's Season Plan? A: No game means no match fee for anyone, so there's nothing for the Season Plan to cover. The plan's value is unaffected — it covers matches actually played in the grade.

Q: Who's liable if we play through bad conditions and someone is hurt? A: Playing outside the association's published policy exposes the club — insurers ask whether the policy was followed. This is exactly why the fixture-notes record ("modified per policy" / "abandoned at [time]") matters: it's your evidence the club acted correctly. See Modules 76 and 83; for a specific incident, get advice from the association and your insurer.

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COMMON MISTAKES

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SHORT ONBOARDING SCRIPT

"Weather calls have two halves: the decision and the relay. The decision usually isn't yours — the association's published policy sets heat and lightning thresholds, and the council closes waterlogged grounds. File those policies before the season so nobody is googling WBGT on the boundary line. Lightning is the exception where anyone acts immediately: 30 seconds between flash and thunder means clear the field, and wait 30 minutes after the last strike. The relay is fully yours: Broadcast with the decision word first, Schedule updated so the app matches, Noticeboard for the record — all within 15 minutes. On borderline mornings, announce a decision deadline the night before. Afterwards: fixture notes updated, no fees for unplayed games, and any heat incident logged for insurance."

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MICRO-TRAINING QUICK TIPS

• Pre-season: file the association weather policy; link it from a pinned Noticeboard post
• Lightning 30/30: ≤30s flash-to-thunder = clear the field; resume 30 min after last strike
• Heat: association thresholds rule; junior thresholds are lower
• Smoke: hazardous AQI = no outdoor play; watch asthmatic players on poor days
• Relay in 15 min: Broadcast → Schedule update → Noticeboard
• Borderline morning: announce "call by 8am" the night before
• After: fixture notes, fee check (no game = no fee), incident log if anyone was affected

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Training Module 107 | See also: 73 Bye Rounds & Schedule Gaps · 59 Match Day Operations · 76 Incident Reporting & Duty of Care · 40 Communication Playbook · 83 Club Insurance