QRL vows to help Cairns clubs get on the field
Brothers Cairns and Tully Tigers will be given every chance to get on the field, despite being the only Cairns and District Rugby League clubs with a desire to do so.
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Queensland Rugby League Northern Division manager Scott Nosworthy says Brothers Cairns and Tully Tigers will be given every chance to get on the field, despite being the only Cairns and District Rugby League clubs with a desire to do so.
CDRL officials met with club representatives on Monday night, with the outcome that just two senior clubs were still interested in returning to play this year.
Nosworthy said the state’s governing body would work with both clubs and the league on ways they could help make that happen.
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“We’ve always said we would look at all avenues to get people back on the field,” he said.
“Hopefully the two clubs can get together and facilitate some sort of footy between them, and see what that looks like for 2020.”
The CDRL was the first senior competition in the QRL’s Northern Division to cancel its 2020 season, announcing its decision following a general league meeting on June 1.
However, talk of a potential return to the field re-emerged last week after the Queensland Government fast-tracked a move to Stage 3 relaxations, which prompted the CDRL to schedule a Monday meeting.
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Four local clubs – and one from Townsville – had expressed interest in playing in a shortened CDRL season prior to the meeting, but only Brothers and Tully remained committed at the end of the proceedings, with Ivanhoe Knights and Mossman-Port Douglas reconsidering to avoid unwanted financial pressure.
“If a club had withdrawn from the competition this year, the majority of the funds they’ve paid for this year would be able to be transferred over to 2021,” he said.
“But, if a club participates this year, then that figure that would be transferred over would be reduced and the club would have a certain percentage, whether it be 40 per cent or something like that, they would then have to pay this year.
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“That was the issue for a lot of clubs and they’ve had to consider that from a financial perspective.”
At this stage, Rugby League Mackay and District will be the only senior league in the Northern Division to run a 2020 season.
Nosworthy said it was the Mackay clubs’ desire to provide rugby league to their players that helped them get their season off the ground, with a start date of August 1.
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“There was a greater identified need in Mackay that they wanted to play,” he said.
“I think they were probably less worried about the financial side of things and some of the clubs were prepared to wear a loss. For them, it was more about giving their players an opportunity to play to protect the clubs into 2021.”
Townsville and District Rugby League cancelled its season last week, while Mount Isa Rugby League has not given up on playing in 2020.
Originally published as QRL vows to help Cairns clubs get on the field