On Thursday, Bendigo Amateur Soccer League officials announced all senior competitions had been called off, having targeted a start date of July 25.
Border Raiders president Pat Hicks said the decision was expected after the Victorian Government announced contact training and competition for people over the age of 19 could not resume as hoped.
“Unfortunately, the league didn’t have much of a choice,” Hicks said.
“The health and safety of everyone in the community always had to come first.
“It’s disappointing but the right decision has been made.”
Speaking on the decision, league president Aaron Shooter told the Bendigo Advertiser, "adding four to six weeks to the current dates left us with not enough time in terms of a quantity of games for a season”.
“We were really left with no other decision.
“The formal competitive season has been called off, but we'll look at putting together some sort of football product later in the year when, or if, the restrictions relax.
“That could be some sort of Knockout Cup or something similar, we're not sure yet.
“We won't even engage in that process until we know 100 per cent what a timeline would look like.
“The constant change has made clubs tired of the process . . . so we'll evaluate things later in the year when we know what we can do.”
Shooter said the league remained committed to playing youth division matches which featured players under the age of 18.
“The youth division has been opened up to as many teams as clubs have available,” he said.
“Games may be moved to Saturdays so that clubs can wrap up all their junior and youth matches on the same day.
“Keeping youth matches on a Sunday could stretch club resources unnecessarily.
“If some clubs can't fit all their matches in on a Saturday then we might have to look at some Sunday games.
“We've got a short turnaround to get the season started next weekend, but we'll do our best to get the first two rounds fixtured and then work out the rest from there.”
Hicks said the Border Raiders remained undecided as to whether they would field a team in the competition.
“We’re hoping to offer something to our junior players which is something we will discuss in the coming weeks,” he said.
“In terms of our seniors, perhaps we could look at a small sided competition.
“The most important thing is to keep our players involved in the club because community sport is paramount to many people’s lives.”
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