For Bathurst's football community, they've missed out on playing since early August but the wait to get back on the field is almost over.
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Panorama FC is planning to run its annual Summer of Football seven-a-side competition across the warmer months, if COVID-19 restrictions lift as plan.
The competition would provide an outlet for keen players who have been sidelined for months due to the lockdown that has affected regio
President Beau Yates said the club is working towards starting in November and running through to late February or early March, which is a similar timeframe to last year's competition.
"We're hoping to get it up and running when we can, which will probably be in November," he said.
"We've just got to work out how many numbers we can have and whether we want to set up the extra field."
The concept of the competition commencing over the summer is an exciting prospect, especially as the winter season came to an abrupt end in August.
"After the shutdown in August, everyone's been itching to get back for a little bit of a hit-out in the summer," he said.
"It'll be good. I think a lot of guys at our club are keen to get back around it and I'm sure the other clubs are in the same boat."
We're hoping to get it up and running when we can, which will probably be in November.
- Panorama FC president Beau Yates
In what would be its fourth edition, the Summer of Football competition has enjoyed substantial growth since its inception.
Yates is expecting numbers to continue to grow for the 2021-22 season, especially after so many players couldn't finish their local winter competition.
"With everyone's season getting cut short, numbers could explode," he said.
"I think we had 23 teams last year. We managed to fill the time slots pretty well, it's just how big we can take it with the fields. If we could get a couple more goals, it be a hell of a lot easier to run the comp."
Like in recent years, organiser will hope to keep the competition on Wednesday evenings, with games played at Police Paddock.
When the competition was originally launched during the 2018-19 summer, it was held on the synthetic surfaces at the Cooke Hockey Complex, before moving to Police Paddock for 2019-20.
Bathurst Summer of Football was one of two summer seven-a-side competitions that ran last, alongside Eglinton DFC's one that ran on Friday afternoons.
Like in previous years, a men's and mixed competition was run, with prizemoney being awarded to the winning team.
Players interested in the competition should check out the Panorama Facebook page for more information closer to November.
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