THE Bathurst Men's Hockey Association has been forced to abandon its first grade competition for 2020 and its other tiers are facing a reduction in numbers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Prior to competitions being put on hold due the virus, there was good interest across the member clubs.
But as the shutdown extended and people were impacted financially, the situation for many clubs changed.
In late May it was announced the men's Premier League Hockey season was cancelled and while the green light to start the Bathurst Men's Hockey Association competitions on July 18 has since been given, president Adrian Miller confirmed there will be no first grade.
"A comp will still go ahead, but at this stage it will be second and third grade ... there is no men's first grade," Miller said. "I think at the moment we have seven teams over two grades, so we are really struggling to get numbers back. Given the situation it's only natural for it to be like that, for 10 weeks of hockey it's not worth it for some people.
"It is a bit disappointing there is no men's first grade, but if we can't get the numbers and teams to play that's sort of what we have to do.
"If any first grade teams want to play we'll accommodate them, those guys will have to be put down into second grade. It will be then up to us to manage what we do with the Premier League players."
Final team nominations are due Wednesday and there will be an association meeting that night to determine the structure of the 2020 competitions. While Miller would like to see more than seven sides competing, he concedes "we're right down in numbers".
"Before COVID came Kelso said they were going to have three teams, they were going to put one in every grade, St Pat's had four teams which is standard for them, Souths had three teams and now they're back to one team," he said.
"Uni was keen, between the men and women they had something like 47 members signed, it was looking really good. But now CSU are out, Oxford has lost its side and Oberon are out.
"So it is still running, but it's not going to proceed as normal."
