Goulburn Valley League’s annual Morrison and Wellman Family Medal night will take place on Tuesday, September 21.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation it will be a virtual event beginning at 6pm, with club officials, players and supporters able to tune into proceedings via an online streaming link.
The announcement comes a week after the league decided to cancel the remainder of the season, resulting in no premiership being awarded for the second year in a row.
Despite this, the fact that all sides managed to play 11 home and away games means the league is comfortable in being able to award best-and-fairests for 2021.
League chairman David Roff explained how the event would operate in its new virtual format.
“It is going to be a live stream, so we will have a combination of people who might have been reasonably high in the vote count to get them ready to have an interview — we will be counting votes, trying to have a chat to people as we go and celebrating the season that was,” Roff said.
“This is the first time we are doing this as a virtual event, but we are confident it will go smoothly and it will allow a lot of people who would not normally go to the vote count an opportunity to see it.”
With the league unable to crown a premier, he said it was vital the league still recognised award winners and all the hard work that went into season 2021.
“It is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate, it is unfortunate that we weren’t able to complete a full season, but a lot of people put a lot of work into the season, so to be able to celebrate players, in particular, I think that is a great thing,” he said.
“There has been some really good football and netball played this year and it is great to be able to acknowledge not only that, but the volunteers and other people that we give awards too.”
Along with the Morrison and Wellman Family Medal night, the league is helping promote the WorkSafe Victoria Mental Health and Wellbeing program set to take place on September 7 at 7.30pm.
Delivered by Sport and Life Training, the program is aimed at people over the age of 15 and gives participants an understanding of anxiety and depression, while also educating them on how to have real conversations to reduce the stigma that remains around mental health issues.
Roff said the league was committed to shedding light on mental health issues.
“We have been interested in trying to do things to assist with mental health because it is something that people have been affected by over the last two years,” he said.
“We did run an online webinar with the Resilience Project which was very well received, and anything we can do to put the message out there that it is okay to not be okay we will be right behind it.”
The workshop is free and open to anyone to join via the online link on the Goulburn Valley League Facebook page.