Sport competitions that have cancelled

By Aydin Payne

Jul 14, 2020

The events of this year have impacted everybody and the region's sporting competitions have felt the full wrath of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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Following last week's decision by Goulburn Valley Hockey Association to cancel its season, we take a look at which competitions have been disrupted in the past four months.

It all began at the end of March, with Cricket Shepparton deciding to cancel its season on the eve of grand final weekend.

Without knowing how long the pandemic would last, many associations tried to keep the boat afloat by postponing their seasons until May.

From there, district competitions began to suspend their seasons left, right and centre.

But the growing concern of the unknown caused many to rethink their stance on getting seasons under way.

Shepparton Netball Association was next to call quits on its season on June 1 and the overall mood started to shift.

And the next day, Kyabram and District Football Netball League — preparing for a bumper year — decided to cancel its season.

Football and netball competitions across Victoria fell like dominoes, but it was not until the end of June that the reality of no football and netball became real.

On June 19, Northern Country Women's League opted out of hosting its season.

And a week later it was a double whammy, with Goulburn Valley League and Murray Football Netball League confirming the cancellation of their senior competitions.

The Murray league has since cancelled its junior football and netball seasons off the back of the border closure between New South Wales and Victoria.

Picola District Football Netball League tried its hardest to get senior competitions up and running, however, the league cancelled its open age seasons on June 30.

In recent weeks, the AFL Victoria Country Masters competition — home to the Goulburn Valley Giants — was unable to escape the impacts of the pandemic.

Last week the Big V basketball competition ended its season, impacting the Shepparton Gators men's team.

And the Goulburn Valley Suns’ senior outfits were informed of the cancellation of the NPL2 season on Monday.

However, there's light at the end of the tunnel for district sport.

This weekend will have the return of three junior competitions, with Shepparton District Junior Football League, Shepparton Junior Soccer Association and Goulburn Valley Hockey Association starting their respective modified seasons.

And the following week on July 25, the Goulburn Valley League will kick-off its junior football and netball seasons.

By Aydin Payne

Sports Editor