GAWLER and District Netball Association (GDNA) has become the third major netball competition in the region to cancel its 2020 winter season after both Barossa, Light & Gawler (BL&G) and Adelaide Plains (AP) associations made the call over a week ago.
While it means there will be no high-level netball played in the region this winter, GDNA announced plans to run an extended summer competition that would see invitations extended to teams in both neighbouring associations, which do not run a summer season.
GDNA secretary Jo Connolly said the committee tried to hang in as long as it could, but after extensive consultation with clubs, decided the COVID-19 regulations were too restrictive.
“We held a meeting with club presidents and secretaries to get their feedback, and the majority of it was that restrictions were too great for clubs,” Ms Connolly said.
“We’re a small association, and we heavily rely on regular volunteers, so for clubs the message to us, strongly, was that the season should not go ahead.”
Regarding the GDNA summer season, which has been growing in popularity over the past five years, Ms Connolly said the association is “fully aware” of interest from groups wanting to join the 2020 edition.
“A lot of people are reaching out because they would have gone a whole season without playing netball,” she said.
“So we’ve reached out with a letter calling for an expression of interest from BL&G and AP clubs so we can do some essential planning.
“The season may look a bit different this year in terms of length, because we want to give people a really good run… historically we have played shortened quarters in the summer, but we might look at running full-length games.”
Gawler Central star and runner-up of the 2019 Senior One league best-and-fairest, Jodie Rich-Nourse, said she is definitely interested in playing some sort of netball in 2020, but that she hasn’t considered leaving her club to do so.
“Due to the majority of leagues not going ahead where the competition is of a high standard, the possibility of playing elsewhere is unlikely,” she said.
“I haven’t thought (as far ahead as summer season) since the reality of not playing a winter season is still sinking in, and the summer season does often overlap with our winter which could make things difficult.
“I would be interested in a carnival-type scenario that will allow teams to get back on court and make something of the 2020 season and help build back into a solid return in 2021.”
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