INTERDISTRICT football matches will be lost if the Hunter's COVID lockdown extends beyond this Friday, as expected, but Northern NSW Football will look at all options to complete their premier competitions - potentially over the next two months.
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The Northern NSW NPL is scheduled to resume this Sunday with round 18, after round 17 was delayed last weekend because of the seven-day lockdown called last Thursday. However, that resumption looks highly unlikely given the spread of the disease.
Round 17 was set to be held a week after round 18 - the scheduled last round - pushing the finals series back a week. NNSWF operations manager Liam Bentley said play-offs in the NPL, men's Northern League One and Herald Women's Premier League could be delayed a further week to allow time to finish regular seasons.
"I don't think it would be a massive push to just push it back another week," Bentley said. "I think once it gets beyond that we will need to get the clubs together and start to have a discussion.
"It all depends what the advice is. If we have a lockdown that goes for three or four weeks, and we're told that this week, then it's a different conversation."
Newcastle and Hunter Valley Football announced this week that their interdistrict competitions could be delayed only the one week already used. Round matches lost to further lockdowns would be declared 0-0 draws. Finals games lost would be awarded to higher-placed teams.
Bentley said the NNSWF premier competitions had greater leeway to extend their season.
"One of the big differences for us is that most of our clubs have access to their grounds for the majority of the year," he said.
"Community clubs are different because they obviously share their grounds with summer sports.
"And it's premier football as well, so we want to make sure we give everyone the best opportunity to play as much football as possible.
"Everything will be on the table in terms of how we finish the season and it will very much depend of when we are talking about - if it is two weeks late, or a month or two late. So we just need to put everything on the table with the clubs and try to get a fair outcome."
The NPL grand finals were at No.2 Sportsground last year but the deciders this season will be at club grounds, which again offers flexibility to extend the year.
"We were unable to secure No.2 Sportsground, so we are looking at club grounds and finalising them," he said.
"They were planned to be released this week, but we are holding off on that to see where the seasons end up."
After the COVID-enforced delay to 2020, the NPL grand finals were held on November 8 - two months later than usual. As for how deep this season could go, he said: "We'd have to work with the clubs and councils to see about any planned [ground] maintenance that happens often at the tail end of the year."
In 2020, clubs voted to shorten the regular season to allow time for a full finals series. Bentley said there was no directive from clubs yet about priorities in completing this year "because it's impossible to predict the scenarios".
"We're just committed to putting our heads together with the clubs and coming up with the best scenario," he said.
Other issues in any return will be the potential loss of crowds and need for a return-to-training period.
"If the health advice says there can't be crowds, it will be a blow to the clubs, absolutely, but I think we'd rather get the games played without crowds than not at all," he said. "Depending on how long the lockdown goes for, at the moment, if it's a week or two, then I don't think we need to provide any [return-to-training period], but if it's longer, then that will be another conversation for the clubs."
As for determining premiers if the rest of the season is lost, he said: "Hopefully it's not a conversation we need to have. If we do, we have it with the clubs.
"There's been a lot of hard work and effort put in by volunteers, coaches and players to get to this point, so we'd love to get it finished off in one way, shape or form."