The Goulburn Valley League board made the decision on Friday to scotch the final two rounds, with a decision regarding finals to be made in the coming week.
“The GVL board has agreed unanimously to cancel the remaining two rounds of the GVL home and away season,” GVL chairman David Roff said.
“We need to allow time for contact tracing to occur to ascertain if any close contacts exist within clubs.
“The board felt that it was in the best interest for the health and safety of everyone in all our communities to cancel all scheduled games for round 15 and 16.
“The future of the finals series will be assessed as we received additional advice from the relevant authorities and will be discussed at a president’s meeting scheduled for early next week.”
The outcome of this decision means Echuca is awarded the minor premiership in senior football, while Shepparton United is named minor premier in A-grade netball.
Kyabram District League released a statement announcing Saturday’s round 16 fixtures had been cancelled.
Certainty on the state of play for round 17 – the last of the home and away season – has not yet been indicated.
“This weekend's matches have been cancelled due to the recent COVID outbreak in the Shepparton region,” the statement read.
“The KDL executive and presidents will have a scheduled meeting over Zoom in the coming days to work out how we move forward as a league.
“There will be further updates on the remainder of the season as soon as we have more information.”
Many other local competitions will also not go ahead this weekend.
Goulburn Valley Hockey Association acted hastily, releasing a statement Friday afternoon calling off games scheduled for as early as tonight, Friday night.
“Given the confirmed positive case of COVID-19 in Shepparton this morning and in consultation with the GVHA executive and club presidents, we feel the most prudent action is to call off tonight’s and tomorrow’s matches,” the Friday statement read.
“With a better indication of the full situation in the coming days we will announce the impact this cancellation will have on our competitions and end-of-season plans.”
Though Bendigo Amateur Soccer League had not officially cancelled Sunday’s round at the time of writing on Friday, Shepparton South and Shepparton United all made it known sides would not participate in round 15.
From a junior perspective, the weekend’s scheduled Shepparton Junior Soccer Association and Shepparton Netball Association rounds have been called off, and while Shepparton District Junior Football League had not yet announced any information at the time of writing, it is likely to follow suit in scrapping the weekend's fixtures.
The ramifications of this will become clearer in the coming days.
