Club withdraws from 2020 WDFNL junior season

WDFNL president Kylie Murphy said on Friday morning she would contact league board members to see if they could catch up on the weekend to discuss a revised draw.

She reiterated the board supported any club which decided to withdraw from the WDFNL's 2020 junior competitions.

"As I said the other day, the board supports any club in these troubling times, that wishes to pull out - we understand completely," she said.

"The Kolora-Noorat community is close to Colac where the virus outbreak is.

"So its committee has made a very hard decision but right for them and their community."

UPDATE, 7.50am:

Kolora-Noorat president Paul Dunn said the decision to withdraw from the Warrnambool and District Football Netball League junior competition due to coronavirus concerns had been on the cards for some time.

"The kids are a bit disappointed and that's the saddest part of it all - they miss out," he said.

"But, the general community has supported our decision.

"We had a committee meeting on Tuesday night and it was an overwhelming vote not to proceed."

Dunn said the Colac meatworks outbreak during the past fortnight also had an impact on the decision.

"That's all a bit closer to home," he said.

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"We're not far from Colac. We have people (club members and supporters) who work at Colac and live at Camperdown and Noorat.

"There is a risk and you can't see the virus coming.

"Playing sport at the moment is a nightmare.

"I would hate for one of our kids to get the virus while playing sport and pass it on to a grandparent who is a life member of our club."

Dunn said the decision to pull the pin was more about the community than the club.

"If we can help safeguard the community by not playing football it is in everyone's best interests," he said.

"The kids will be able to play year after year in future, but if we lose a member of the community, that's it."

Earlier: A decision by the most successful club in the Warrnambool and District Football Netball League to pull the pin on the junior season due to coronavirus is expected to prompt other clubs to reconsider their position.

Kolora-Noorat announced on its Facebook site during Thursday night to end participation in the 2020 WDFNL junior competition.

A statement said:

"The Kolora-Noorat Football Netball club committee have made the decision to withdraw the club from the 2020 season

"The health and well-being of our players, coaches, officials and supporters is our No. 1 priority during these uncertain times.

"Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to ensure that we have been COVID compliant during our training sessions to date."

The decision by the Power comes after Nirranda previously made the same decision.

The WDFNL is launching its 2020 junior club championship on August 1, involving under 12, under 15 and 18 football grades and 13 and under, 15 and under and 17 and under netballers.

On Thursday there were 29 COVID cases linked to the Australian Lamb Colac abattoir cluster, up 12 from Wednesday's 17 cases.

There remains 26 active coronavirus cases in Colac Otway Shire.

Western Victoria now has more COVID-19 cases than any other part of regional Victoria.

There are three cases in Glenelg Shire and one in Corangamite Shire, while Warrnambool remains coronavirus free despite the testing of about 900 Midfield Group workers on Monday.

A meat inspector visiting the Warrnambool meatworks on Tuesday last week, and testing positive on Sunday, led to a decision to close the Warrnambool Midfield site for three days and test all workers.

On July 10 a Colac abattoir worker returned a positive test, that led to a positive test of a close contact, a student at Trinity College.

With some Hampden league junior players attending Trinity College, some junior games at Camperdown and Cobden were called off last Saturday and the league tweaked its draw this week.

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