Shepparton Toyota District Junior Football League is the latest competition to pull the pin on season 2021.
Announcing the news on Wednesday afternoon, the board decided it could no longer entertain salvaging the season due to prolonged restrictions and risks to players, parents, coaches and volunteers.
This is the second straight year the league has been forced to cancel the end of its season, but is already looking ahead to some exciting changes in 2022.
League president Mark Lambourn said the board had made the decision to announce minor premiers across the Keating Transport under-16 and Youth Girls as well as the Brokerhouse under-14 competitions.
Shepparton United (Youth Girls), Moama (under-16) and Shepparton Swans (under-14) were all on top of their respective competition tables.
He said these teams, along with a host of award recipients, would be recognised for their achievements in a special acknowledgement night, to be held online on Wednesday, September 22.
“It’s been another stop-start year and we can only congratulate everyone involved for staying the course and their hard work and commitment to junior football,’’ Lambourn said.
The president said the acknowledgement night would be a virtual meeting, not just thanking the clubs themselves, but individual award category leaders, sponsors and volunteers.
“We will also make an exciting announcement on some changes to the competition in season 2022 which keeps us looking forward. One thing that the interruptions have caused us to do, as a board is to look at the bigger picture of our sport and along with our values and strategic plan, to decide what’s going to be best long term,” Lambourn said.
“We are still finalising some of these plans and hopefully be able to make some big announcements in mid-September.’’
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