After the NSW government last week announced extensions to the current statewide lockdowns until September 10, the Goulburn District Hockey Association confirmed that the remainder of its local competitions are cancelled.
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After announcing in a Facebook post last week that the future of the local season depended on whether or not the lockdowns ended yesterday, as previously scheduled, the GDHA confirmed to the Post today that it had to call off the rest of the local season in order to ensure construction on the hockey complex could go ahead.
"We're officially finished for this year with our hockey due to the fact that we need to get our contractors in to do the work on the turf," GDHA rep secretary, Sharney Fleming, said.
"It wasn't a decision we made lightly, we weighed up whether we could push it back. But we need to get our facility done, and it was always an agreement with the council that once we'd finished and we'd given them a date, that we only had a week in between and we wouldn't be able to do that.
"Getting our facility done and getting the contractors in is much more important at the moment."
Due to the premature end to the season, the current top-placed teams in each division will become minor premiers of 2021 and will receive trophies in the coming weeks.
As the upcoming indoor hockey season is likely to be severely stifled by the COVID-19 outbreaks across NSW, Fleming said the GDHA had already begun considering some alternatives which could begin after the Christmas break.
"We as a hockey community will be looking at the possibility of holding an indoor comp or a twilight comp," she said.
"We'll try to kick that off fairly early after Christmas. If something happens and we can push ahead with indoor as scheduled, we'll do it. But we can't see that happening at the moment."
By completing the upgrades to the complex as soon as possible, the GDHA hopes to be able to host high-level events in the near future, such as state championships.
"The aim for us as an association is to work towards a state championship," Fleming said.
"Which would probably be Under 15s and Under 13s, because as you move up into the Under 18s, you need three fields. We could possibly accommodate an Under 13s championship next year if it goes ahead."
Further information regarding the summer hockey season will be provided by the GDHA as it becomes available.
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