GROUP 10 president Linore Zamparini has expressed his disappointment at the remainder of the 2021 competition being cancelled following an announcement from NSW Rugby League on Tuesday.
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NSWRL announced that all community competitions would not be able to play out the remainder of their 2021 seasons, ending Group 10's faint hopes of playing their finals series.
Group 10 had been weighing up the possibility of playing some form of a finals series deep into the year once the 80 per cent double vaccination target for the state had been reached.
However, the decision to resume the competition has been taken out of their hands.
"They had to come to the fore at the end of the day. They were originally happy for us to continue doing what we were doing and backed us 100 per cent," Zamparini said shortly after NSWRL's announcement.
"But since they've been talking to the government and health authority they realised that community sports are not going to be starting up again this year. Because of that they've decided to give us a bit of direction."
While the NSW Government has recently announced easing to some restrictions in various areas of NSW, the NSWRL has been advised the Public Health Orders do not allow for organised or competitive community sport to recommence.
"I don't think it was a surprise after last weekend when they announced that there would be no community sports played before the 18th of October," Zamparini said.
"After that date, providing cases were clear, we'd need anything up to four weeks of training after that before we could resume play.
The Group 10 junior rugby league made the call to abandon its final series last week.
"I thank all stakeholders for their tireless efforts in trying to get community football back on the field but unfortunately it is no longer feasible," NSWRL Head of Football Robert Lowrie said.
"I thank all our participants, officials, coaches and fans for their contributions this season. I urge them to stay safe, observe the COVID-19 safety guidelines and look forward to seeing them back in action in 2022."
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