WHILE there is still a huge question mark hanging over Central West Rugby Union competitions which are waiting for official approval to commence in 2020, there is also one very resolute message giving clubs hope.
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It comes from CWRU chief executive Matt Tink.
"My position has been the same since day one - if you want to play rugby, I'll find you rugby to play," Tink said.
While the state government last Tuesday gave approval for junior community sport to commence as of July 1, no announcement was forthcoming about sport for seniors.
The governing bodies for many of the state's sporting codes, including NSW Rugby, met with the sports minister on Thursday and Friday to push for a start date and clarification.
But the wait for the green light continues and so does the frustration.
"So we had the announcement on Tuesday that community sport was back, but when you drilled down into that it was only juniors, and when you drilled down into that there was no mention of contact sport," Tink said.
"Six weeks ago there was hope we'd be able to get back to full contact sport on the first of July. Which meant all the clubs agreed we'd probably need a couple of weeks of training and then we could start on July 18.
"That is looking unlikely at the moment for seniors. They absolutely need contact training before they play."
As it currently stands, clubs are permitted to train in groups of no more than 10 and no physical contact is permitted. Many CWRU clubs, such as Bathurst Bulldogs and CSU, have opted to hold those sessions.
But just when, or if, they will get to play remains to be seen. If the season goes ahead it will have to be with a shorter draw, but as for the format that will take, Tink said it is still a matter of waiting for that too.
"We've got 28 clubs and a number of them are training at the moment and observing everything they need to and have got COVID officers and all that - so they're ticking all the boxes and they're all hoping to play with crowds and some may chose to play with no crowds," he said.
"I nailed the draws last November and was pretty happy with myself ... but never got to roll them out. Since then I think I've done four draws, but at the moment I am just waiting because I don't know which clubs will chose to play.
"Some will chose to play but some won't.
"It's doing my head in ... I wish I could get more answers."
Tink has spoken to senior clubs and gotten their feedback on 2020, including their willingness to play if permitted.
He will discuss that information with the CWRU board on Tuesday evening, but stressed that no major decisions will be made given there is still so much uncertainty over a potential season.
"Tuesday night we've got a board meeting. I will present a snapshot of the zone to the board and discussions will be had, but decisions won't be made because we still don't understand what is happening with the state government," he said.
"But we'll come up with some sort of regional consensus and they'll come up with some instructions for me like 'Tell us what the draw will look like for people who want to play'."
