Seaham Red Star FC and COVID-19: Dave Copeland on financial and practical challenges of pandemic

Dave Copeland, Club Secretary at Northern League Division One side Seaham Red Star FC, spoke to SportsByte about some of the challenges faced since the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.

As well as having to adjust sponsorship arrangements due to the lack of matches, players had to try and stay fit when games were dotted sporadically throughout 2020/21.

Copeland referenced how some sponsors continued to offer support and also explained how coaches Mark Collingwood and Simon Johnson “introduced programmes for every player, individually” to help the squad maintain fitness levels.

This proved valuable given the almost two-month gap between FA Vase ties on October 31 and December 19, before another wait of more than three months from December 29 to April 10.