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SIRU has regrettably had to push the Juniors season back a week, due to the withdrawal of some clubs from the competition in 2020. Albury-Wodonga withdrew on Friday evening (17th July), with the heavy pressure of being in the border region strongly contributing to their decision. Following this, Wagga and Cootamundra withdrew on Monday (20th July), with a Zoom meeting held on Monday night with the SIRU Clubs and remaining Junior Club Presidents. Clubs were asked to provide a firm Club position by Tuesday (21st July) as to whether or not their Club wish to participate in the 2020 Junior Competition. Fortunately nearly all Clubs have returned with a positive response already, only West Wyalong choosing to withdraw at this stage. SIRU is planning to work with the Clubs on a new season format from Wednesday, with aims to announce it publicly on Friday 24th July and resume the season on Sunday 2nd August. The Clubs who have withdrawn from the competition, will all continue to train in their own Club environment, with hopes of developing their core skills and camaraderie for the 2021 season. A positive step for both the Clubs and the game in our zone. SIRU would like to once again applaud all Clubs in the zone for their work in being "COVID Compliant", it is due to their immense efforts that we have the opportunity to train and play community sport, and we look forward to seeing all of our Junior athletes playing on Sunday 2nd August. 
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 With the 2020 SIRU Junior Season to kick off in just over a week, the final spread of locations, dates, and which clubs will travel where has been set.
Each Gala Day has been split into three locations to assist with managing COVID-19 Social Distancing requirements. All clubs have been working really hard over recent months with the SIRU office to keep themselves compliant, and will now continue a lot of these processes as they head around the zone to compete. With the reduced teams and reduced travel, the 2020 season will be non-competitive across all age grades, with a focus on participation and enjoyment. SIRU is excited that the proposal for Girls Tackle was successful this year, with 13 teams competing in 2020. With the reduction in season length for both the SIRU Senior and Junior Competitions for 2020, the SIRU Board agreed at their July meeting that Association/Affiliation Fees would be reduced by 50% in 2020. This will see the savings passed on directly to the players in the Junior Competition, and will greatly assist Clubs in the Senior Competition. Clubs are charged an annual affiliation fee to participate in the competition which assists SIRU with the costs associated with running the competitions, representative programs and development programs in schools throughout the calendar year.
With some SIRU activities on hold or reduced due to COVID-19, President Warwick Grant hopes the reduction in affiliation fees will assist Clubs, particularly the smaller clubs, and their members during this difficult time for community sport. The impact for many clubs has been significant across the board; players have been impacted with job losses, clubs have been unable to field teams, conduct fund raisers or honour sponsorship arrangements. The response from Clubs to having a revised competition in 2020 has been very positive and has supported SIRU with their efforts to have a rugby competition, and this is another way SIRU is able to assist. The reductions will take effect by the end of the week. SIRU will be communicating with Clubs over the coming days. With only 3 weeks until Rugby returns to the Southern Inland region, SIRU is pleased to announce the 2020 SIRU Draw. Our Women’s Xs and 2nd Grade competitions will still kick off on 25th July, with 7 Rounds to be played, followed by a 3-week Finals Series culminating in Grand Finals on Saturday 26th September. Each team will play an opponent once, with one bye included during the season. These competitions will include all of the SIRU clubs excluding Griffith, which is great to see considering the circumstances of 2020. SIRU worked closely with the 1st Grade Clubs, with a final decision being made on Monday 29th June to play 3 rounds, where we will see each team play an opponent three times over the season. The 1st Grade competitions will now kick off on 18th July, with 9 games to be played by each team over 10 weeks, followed by a Grand Final between the two top teams on Saturday 26th September. This competition will consist of three Wagga clubs in CSU Reddies, Wagga City and Wagga Waratahs, as well as the Tumut Bulls. In recent weeks we have seen many competitions in regional Australia being called off, the SIRU Board is pleased to have all their competitions kicking off in July, and praises the Clubs for their efforts during these difficult circumstances. 3 weeks until we have the first competitive Rugby being played of 2020, we can't wait! 
With the increased announcements of sports not going ahead in 2020 due to COVID-19, SIRU is pleased to announce that our Junior Competition will be going ahead. Following recent meetings with both the SIRU Board, and all SIRU Junior Club Presidents, a final list of dates has been set, and we hope to top that off with a list of locations to match in the coming weeks. Some of our clubs have commenced training already, under the guidelines set by ACT & SNSW Rugby Union and the NSW Office of Sport. Most clubs will return to training this week however, as of 1st July, all clubs can return to regular training, with some COVID-19 protocols still in place. The 2020 season will commence on Sunday 26th July, with six Gala Days to be held, finishing on 20th September (all dates are below). Locations and further details are to be confirmed in the coming weeks.  With a commitment from all 11 Clubs to compete in 2020, the SIRU Board and staff are extremely pleased to still be able to offer a competition for the participants.
The SIRU Junior Season will have a non-competitive focus in 2020, with the removal of Finals and Champions for 2020. The aim of this is to allow all participants to go out and focus on participation and enjoyment, rather than results. This will also allow SIRU to reduce the travel for families, which is all important during this time as travel for sport over a season can become quite expensive, especially in a zone as large as ours. 2020 Junior Season Dates: 1. 26th July 2020 2. 2nd August 2020 3. 16th August 2020 4. 30th August 2020 5. 13th September 2020 6. 20th September 2020 |
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