BATHURST Netball Association's 2021 season has officially been cancelled following a decision made at the club's annual general meeting this week.
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Community sport will no longer be permitted in New South Wales until an 80 per cent double vaccination rate is reached - a figure that's not likely to be met until November or December at the current rate.
Bathurst Netball Association president Tina Muller said the decision to end the season felt inevitable given the developments around the region's COVID situation over the past month.
"We had our AGM on Wednesday night and we made the call to end it. We weren't able to get those finals round in, which is unfortunate, but there's not much that we can do about it," she said.
"It's about the safety of players and the community and we have to do what's necessary.
"We were holding off on making a call but we all knew it was coming."
The competition ended with the A grade and A reserve battles heading for a close conclusion in the race for top spot on their respective ladders.
"It was really looking good this year. We're just hoping that we get a smooth season next year," she said.
"The A grade competition was really exciting this year and it was very tight."
The focus for the Bathurst Netball Association now shifts to the upcoming junior representative season.
The committee need to find an appropriate time for trials to be held that will work in the current public health orders, and those are not looking likely to take place until November at the earliest.
"We have carnival starting in March and that's going to come around quite quickly. We were supposed to have rep trials starting in October but we'll have to look at new dates for those," Muller said.
"We were lucky enough to get our senior state titles in this year because the lockdown in Sydney came straight after those. We were hoping to do a Country Challenge for the junior teams but with COVID coming into the regional areas that was abandoned as well.
"That's unfortunate for them because they've been training really hard and there's a lot of effort that goes into it."
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