WHILE numerous South Coast sports competitions continue their charge towards their respective finals, Southern Branch FC's season has once again been sidelined due to COVID-19.
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Following the NSW government's latest introduction of new COVID-19 protocols, Football NSW has decided to put a number of its competitions, including the National Premier League Two women, on hold for six weeks, to comply with the new health restrictions.
"In support of the NSW government's recommendations, in particular, the recommendation to cease activities that result in the mixing of participants from different regions of Sydney, Football NSW has made the difficult decision that, for the next five weeks, teams playing at the SAP and NPL youth levels will play locally in smaller 'hubs'," a Football NSW spokesperson said.
"With this in mind, Football NSW is redesigning fixtures ahead of this weekend and for the following four weekends.
"So as to create greater playing opportunities, we are also considering the possibility of having teams from different competitions play against each other within localised areas.
"While NSW Health may extend the period that the recommendations remain in place, Football NSW continues to plan towards scheduling competition fixtures through to what is currently the final weekend of the season (Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1).
"We will continue to monitor and work within the recommendations of NSW Health and, if anything changes, we will adjust schedules accordingly.
"Furthermore, during this period Football NSW's technical staff will continue to be out across the grounds, working with club technical directors and coaches to identify talented players."
Being one of only two clubs, alongside Western NSW, not in the greater metropolitan area, Southern Branch has been working hard since the announcement to keep the players from their four teams engaged.
"With our games against St George postponed on August 23, we have been working hard to try and establish competition for our players, to ensure they are staying sharp for whenever the season resumes," Southern Branch president Glenn Wright said.
"As we are in the 'South Coast bubble', we are trying to set up games against other representative and Shoalhaven teams, as well as some further down the coast with Eurobodalla opponents.
"All the logistics are still very fluid at the moment and although this announcement has impacted us more than the metropolitan teams, we are taking it in our stride and trying to do the best thing we can for our players.
"They've already dealt with the season being delayed once because of COVID-19, so everyone is staying positive and engaged and looking forward to returning to the field in the near future.
"At the end of the day, we just want our players playing football and we are going to do everything in our power to give them that opportunity."
At this stage, the men's NPL competitions, which involve the Wollongong Wolves (featuring Milton-Ulladulla's Chris Price) and South Coast Flame (containing Culburra's George and Kasey Kulcsar and Shoalhaven Heads-Berry's Matt White) are still continuing with numerous COVID-19 safety protocols in place.