The inaugural Luke McCue Memorial Cup has been postponed to next March due to the current COVID-19 lockdowns.
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Event organiser, Bec Rudd, said it quickly became apparent after the NSW statewide lockdown went into place that the event was unlikely to go ahead as originally scheduled on September 25. So, she and the other organisers decided instead to hold it in conjunction with the opening of the new Klem Field on March 12.
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"The Klem family has been involved in Goulburn rugby forever, so they're opening up this new field ... and we thought it would be a better idea if we joined with that event," Rudd said.
"Hopefully by then the COVID lockdowns will be out of the way and we can give ourselves more time to get ready."
As the new field will then be available for use on the day of the competition, Rudd said there is now the possibility of adding extra teams to make the event even bigger.
The COVID-19 restrictions made other aspects of organising the Memorial Cup difficult, such as asking local businesses to donate items for the raffle.
The postponement, Rudd hopes, will allow those impacted by the lockdowns to recover and give her and the other organisers more time to pull everything together.
Unlike many other events, which have often been cancelled outright in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, Rudd was determined to see the Memorial Cup through as both a tribute to Luke, who passed away in December 2020, and a way to farewell many of the members of the Under 18s team he played in, who will move on to senior rugby next year.
"It'll definitely go ahead," she said.
"For my team, it was the very last year in junior rugby for the majority of them. We made a video for them and organised to have a bit of an end-of-year celebration, and then we just lost it all.
"Not only did it all get cancelled, but we couldn't interact with anybody. The boys actually mentioned that they missed out on their final training and didn't even get to thank the coach or have that farewell to junior rugby."
As the organisers are still putting together the raffles prizes which will be up for grabs after the Memorial Cup, any additional donations are welcome.
Further information about the Luke McCue Memorial Cup will be made announced in the coming months.
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