News broke from the boardroom about midday on Thursday, with chairman David Roff citing the call to cancel the post-season was made with the community’s health and safety in mind, especially considering Shepparton’s recent COVID-19 outbreak.
“This is not a decision we have made lightly,” Roff said.
“The inability of metro-based players to travel, as well as NSW restrictions placed significant strain on clubs in terms of player availability for games played on August 14.
“The announcement last week of a lockdown across regional Victoria saw the board make the decision to cancel the remaining two rounds of the home and away season.”
The decision means premierships have been awarded to current ladder leaders in each grade.
Echuca took out all four football flags, Shepparton United prevailed in A-grade, B-reserve and 17-and-under netball, while the Murray Bombers and Shepparton took out the B-grade and 15-and-under gongs respectively.
This comes days after a discussion to assess the fate of finals.
Monday night had all 12 of its member clubs meet with the board at a round table, where according to a statement released by the league, most were in agreeance it was over.
Roff also said the unfolding COVID-19 situation in regional Victoria only accelerated the decision to pull the pin on the 2021 finals series.
“The current outbreak in Shepparton has seen a number of schools, both secondary and primary, listed as Tier 1 exposure sites and has put entire households into 14-day home isolation,” he said.
“There are now also confirmed cases in regional Victoria.
“This causes an even more substantial impact on players as well as officials at multiple clubs across the league, as there is now over a third of the region’s population in isolation across the Goulburn Valley region.
“Two presidents are currently in 14-day quarantine, as is league operations manager Jo Spencer.”
In addition to health concerns, the board took into consideration the financial burden of the shortened season for clubs.
“The growing case numbers are making the easing of restrictions on September 2 highly unlikely and, even if restrictions were to ease, we could quickly find ourselves back in another snap lockdown which could see finals further impacted,” Roff said.
“Further to that, we are still a long way off spectators being allowed back at games. We ultimately had to make the call in order to provide clarity to everyone at all of our clubs.”
It was further announced the Morrison and Wellman Family Medal Night would not be held in person and would move to an online broadcast at a time and date to be advised.
“This is an extraordinary situation that is complex and constantly evolving and, whilst we are disappointed, we know that we have made the best decision for our communities,” league operations manager Jo Spencer said.
“The GVL understands that this continues to be a trying time for everyone and would like to take this opportunity to thank all our club volunteers, club executives and committees, players, community members, our valued partners and AFL Goulburn Murray for their patience and ongoing support as we navigate through these unprecedented times.”
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