The coronavirus has taken down one of the grande dames of New England sport - and, in the process, snapped a cherished unbroken sequence.
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Had it not been for Covid-19, this long weekend would have marked the 52nd consecutive installment of the June Baseball Carnival at Tamworth.
Craig Lee, president of Tamworth Baseball Incorporated, described as "sad" the carnival being cancelled.
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Billed as the biggest baseball carnival in the southern hemisphere, it attracts dozens of teams from around Australia.
Lee was left to bemoan the absence of the event.
But at the same time, he announced that TBI had pencilled in July 4 as a tentative start date for its season - admitting the organisation was desperate get action under way this year, for fear of losing players to the sport.
He said: "That's what we're hoping for ... We don't want to be negative and shut everything down.
Like, it's hard enough that we had to shut down the June carnival for this weekend.
- Craig Lee
"Like, it's hard enough that we had to shut down the June carnival for this weekend.
"It's such a big [money] earner for us. That's our major contributor ... and it's a big earner for the town, because we have over 50 teams that come here.
"So, there's probably about 2500 people that come to town to support that tournament."
On the plus side, Lee said the TBI was already planning next year's carnival.
