North Melbourne CEO Ben Amarfio addressed the following letter to members. 

All of us at North Melbourne hope you and your families are in good health and safe in these difficult and uncertain times.

I wanted to reach out to give you some insight about the COVID-19 situation and financial implications that we are dealing with at your club.

There’s no hiding the fact it has been an incredibly difficult and challenging day at Arden St.

Our euphoria from having had two thrilling and gutsy two-point victories at the weekend was soon quelled when the harsh reality of the season suspension set in.

The fall-out from yesterday’s announcement that the AFL season has been temporarily suspended and the AFLW season cancelled, has hit all clubs hard – including us. There is no getting around the position of the AFL industry. All clubs are under immense financial pressure due to the economic crisis.

This afternoon I spoke with our dedicated staff to outline what this means for them and the club. These conversations were difficult and uncomfortable, but necessary to guarantee the future of our organisation and the league at large.

While we are very confident that via our own means and the support of the AFL, we will get through this horrible time, significant debt will await us on the other side. For now, our goal is to ensure we are a going concern and this proud club is protected.

Our club is more than 150 years old and has survived all that has been thrown at it before. While this event is unprecedented, we will get through it and come out ready to play and win again.

Our famed Shinboner Spirit - on display yesterday with our magnificent, come-from-behind win over St.Kilda and our tough finals win in the AFLW over Collingwood - demonstrated that our people are made of tough stuff and their collective resilience will hold us all in good stead.

Our number one priority is to look after our “family”; that is the staff, players, partners, members and supporters of this great club.

Today, we shared with the AFL the extent of our cost cutting measures, which sadly included a raft of necessary ‘stand downs’ and salary cuts. Our players will also face some uncertainty with the AFL and AFLPA to negotiate terms separately.

More than 75 per cent of our workforce has been stood down until at least May 31. Should the AFL extend the suspension of the season beyond that date, these stand downs will be extended. I cannot tell you how tough these decisions were to make and convey.

But we know we are not alone and that many of you will be in similar situations. We can only look to each other for help, love and support, and hope that these dark times will soon be over and we can resume our ‘normal’ lives in the not too distant future. 

When football returns, which it will, we can’t wait to see you at our games. In the meantime, we want to thank you for your ongoing support and loyalty. We have had a surge in memberships over the past fortnight and only a handful of people calling about refunds. We already knew we had the best supporters in the world, but the levels of generosity and help you’ve all provided so far have been overwhelming.

While we look to get things back on track, please stay engaged with us via our social media channels – we want to hear from you and offer some entertainment to help get you all through the tough times. After all, there’s nothing better than watching North win – even if it means the games have to come from the archives! Stay tuned for as much great content as we can muster for you over this suspension period.

Thank you again, I will be in touch should there be any more information in the coming days/weeks.  Take care.

Kind Regards,
Ben Amarfio