COVID-19 Crisis: School, community school sport return this month doubt
COVID-19 CRISIS: The return to school sport, including GPS rugby, schoolgirl rowing, Langer Trophy and community sport this month in grave doubt.
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The return to school and community sport this month is in grave doubt following the escalation of COVID-19 exposure sites within Brisbane.
The case of a Brisbane Grammar School infectious student playing rugby against St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace on Saturday morning at Anglican Church Grammar School will have considerable flow on effects within the wider Brisbane sporting community.
Directly it halts any thoughts of GPS rugby, for example, returning this month, with the 14-day infectious period alone advancing concerns to at least August 19 - three days before the start of round 6.
But the www.couriermail.com.au is also reporting of signs the lockdown will be extended beyond Sunday.
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And even if the lockdown is lifted on Sunday, there would be restrictions and it would be highly unlikely for government to allow thousands of junior sport athletes to flood hundreds venues over the next two or three weeks.
GPS officials acted swiftly on Saturday morning to halt fixtures, with host schools sending officials onto fields to stop games mid-matches after the midmorning press conference from the state government which announced the impending lockdown from 4pm later that day.
But the wider community is also caught up in the school clusters, with many students from the COVID-19 exposure site schools also playing Saturday afternoon or Sunday community sport - after their school sport commitments.
Many children from the school hot spots play Australian football, club rugby and club rugby league.
The Brisbane Schoolgirl Rowing Association’s famous head of the river regatta - and all lead-up regattas - has been caught up in the outbreak, with Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School one of its participants. Indeed BGGS were the reigning champions of the famous rowing XIII event.
The Langer Trophy, livestreamed each Wednesday by News Corp, is now looking at September for its resumption later than expected - and will need to fast forward to semi-finals and bypass quarter finals which were planned to involve eight schools on August 19.
Football’s famous Bill Turner Cup statewide school soccer competition finals have now been ushered from August to mid-September.
“With the South East Queensland COVID lockdown extended and likely to be extended further we have decided to set new dates of 14th and 15th September for the 2021 Bill Turner Cup and Trophy Queensland Finals Series,” a spokesman said.
Queensland Schools Premier League had also hoped to play finals late this month, while the AFLQ’s StreetSmarts AFLQ Schools Cup events would be shifted.
“While the pandemic will continue to challenge us, the health, safety and wellbeing of our community football community remains our highest priority,’’ an AFL Queensland statement said.
“AFL Queensland will continue to work with the Queensland Government and health authorities and be guided by their advice and direction.’’
Hockey Queensland’s Big Hockey Hit Out, a trial livestreamed by www.couriermail.com.au involving Queensland’s best players to see who makes the two Brisbane Blaze representative teams, has been postponed indefinitely.
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