Goulburn Valley League cancels 2021 season, awards premierships

One of country footy’s leading competitions has called an end to its season, awarding premierships to teams on top of the ladder.

Andrew Walker’s Echuca have been declared as premiers. Picture: Aaron Cook

One of country footy’s leading competitions has called an end to its season declaring ladder leaders in each division as premiers.

Goulburn Valley league officials met earlier this week to discuss possible options regarding the season following the Shepparton Covid outbreak which now sits at 67 cases before deciding to sound the final siren.

The decision means Echuca, coached by former Carlton star Andrew Walker and Simon Maddox, finish the season with a senior premiership after losing the 2019 decider.

In fact, the Murray Bombers finished on top of the ladder in every football grade.

They finished ahead of Euroa and Seymour on percentage with a record of nine wins and two losses.

At the meeting earlier in the week, more than half of clubs agreed the season was over while others wanted to wait a little longer.

GVL board chairman David Roff said the decision was made with community safety in mind.

“This is not a decision we have made lightly,” he said.

“The inability of metro-based players to travel, as well as NSW restrictions placed significant strain on clubs in terms of player availability for games played on 14 August.

“The announcement last week of a lockdown across regional Victoria saw the board make the decision to cancel the remaining two rounds of the home and away season.

“The growing case numbers are making the easing of restrictions on September 2 highly unlikely and even if restrictions were to ease, we could quickly find ourselves back in another snap lockdown which could see finals further impacted.

“Further to that, we are still a long way off spectators being allowed back at games.

“We ultimately had to make the call-in order to provide clarity to everyone at all of our clubs.”

GVL operations manager Jo Spencer said she was thankful to everyone for their support during the season.

“This is an extraordinary situation that is complex and constantly evolving and while we are disappointed, we know that we have made the best decision for our communities,” she said.

The Picola District league ended its own season on Wednesday night with a number of members currently in isolation.

Football premiers

Seniors: Echuca.

Reserves: Echuca.

Under 18s: Echuca.

Under 16s: Echuca.

Netball premiers

A grade: Shepparton United.

B grade: Echuca.

B reserve: Shepparton United.

17 and under: Shepparton United.

15 and under: Shepparton.