COVID-19: Tamworth sporting bodies cancel seasons in wake of continued ban

The announcement on Thursday that Tamworth would come out of a lengthy lockdown on Saturday did not translate to good news for community sport.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro said community sport would remain suspended until 80 per cent of the state was fully vaccinated. As of Wednesday, 43 per cent of the state had been fully vaccinated.

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That requirement may impact on the scheduled October start of the cricket season.

Training, however, is allowed under the rule that up to 20 people can meet.

On Thursday, Group 4, Northern Inland Football, the Tamworth Hockey Association, the Tamworth Netball Association and Tamworth Oztag announced the premature end of their seasons.

Tamworth Baseball is also expected to call time on its season, although confirmation of that was pending a meeting of its board on Thursday night.

Central North Rugby Union, New England Rugby Union and AFL North West had previously aborted their seasons.

Had community sport been greenlit on Thursday, Group 4 was looking at a two-week training period before a two-week final series or just a grand final day.

In a statement, Group 4 chairman Terry Psarakis said the organisation "had no choice but to abandon the season".

He said: "It is a shame. And I would like to thank all the players, club officials, referees and sponsors for the season."

Psarakis said Group 4 may award the premiership to the teams who finished atop the table when the regular season was prematurely halted after round 12. In first grade, that was Narrabri.

While Tamworth is set to be freed from lockdown, Narrabri will remain in lockdown.

Psarakis said: "That wouldn't have helped our situation, either - Narrabri being on top of the comp [and the town still in lockdown]."

The Group 4 chairman also revealed that the second instalment of the successful WEG 9s would not be staged during the off-season.

But it could be held early next season or at the conclusion of the 2022 season, he said.

"That's under discussion and will be something we will decide on in the coming weeks," he added.

Northern Inland Football, meanwhile, had envisaged a week of training before semi-finals on September 17-18 and grand finals the following weekend.

In a statement on Thursday, Northern NSW Football said that it was "left with no choice but to call full-time on all 2021 Northern Inland competition".

NIF will name only minor premiers this year.

Tamworth Baseball had hoped to stage its semi-finals on Saturday and its grand finals the following Saturday, while the Tamworth Netball Association had hoped to stage its grand finals this Saturday.

The Tamworth Hockey Association had planned to conduct its final round next weekend, ahead of its grand finals over the October long weekend. It will now name only minor premiers this year.

THA president Ross Briggs said: "We'll get a message out to all of our players and let them know today [Thursday] that that's it."

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