LIMBER up, because the Sunraysia Football and Netball League (SFNL) is in limbo again.
The New South Wales state-wide lockdown that was enforced on Saturday, which carries through until at least 5pm this Saturday, throws a jackhammer into the works of the remainder of the season.
Playing organised sport is not listed as one of the five reasons for NSW residents to leave home, which immediately affects Wentworth and Robinvale Euston, as well as Gol Gol in the Millewa Football League.
There is also concern for Victorian-based teams who have players living on the other side of the Chaffey Bridge.
Immediately, this will hit the scheduled final round of the SFNL and the second week of MFL, Millewa Netball Association and Sunraysia Women’s Football League finals. Looking forward, it could spell the worst possible outcome – another cancelled season.
SFNL president Paul Matheson said he and the board would assess the situation over the coming days and remain in contact with clubs.
“Right now, we don’t know what it will look like and we don’t have the answers,” Matheson said.
“Especially for us it’s a massive issue for Wentworth, especially as they’re scheduled to host games this weekend. We thought maybe we could work on a Sunday scenario but the way everything is going you would think it’s more than likely going to be more than seven days.
“We did have to cancel South Mildura and Wentworth’s junior games (Sunday).
“The feedback we’ve had from clubs as well is they have a number of players living on the NSW side of the border.”
Matheson said the league would see what transpires over the coming days before making a decision.
“The elephant in the room over the weekend was around crowds and keeping them away to comply with restrictions, but by the end of the day it was NSW lockdowns we were worried about,” he said.
“There’s lots of unknowns out there. What did concern me was the NSW Cross-Border Commissioner saying that if you live in NSW and go to school in Victoria, you can’t go. If they’re doing that for school then sport is surely off the table.
“Do they bring in the border bubble or will Victoria come down harder on NSW travellers? The problem is we just don’t know and the information changes almost every few hours.
“We’ll look at different possible scenarios at least for next weekend and if we get a clearer idea we’ll go down that path, but it’s not a great situation.”
