The clock is ticking.
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As elite level football and rugby league navigate towards a re-start, community sports are facing a race against time to even begin playing on grounds presently sitting idle each weekend from Yarrawonga to Corryong and everywhere in between.
Coronavirus has already ensured an asterisk will be placed on whatever happens in 2020, but a complete season wipeout can't be ruled out even though the war on COVID-19 in regional areas is being won with no active or fresh cases for weeks in most places and none at all in some areas.
Time is the enemy for players, volunteers and officials of winter sporting competitions which have resigned themselves to shortened seasons still more than two months away in a best case scenario.
The last time the Ovens and Murray Football-Netball League didn't play was during World War II and the Albury-Wodonga Football Association has not missed a beat since being formed in 1973.
"The most difficult thing we are trying to navigate through is the uncertainty of not knowing when and if a season is going to get up," O and M chairman David Sinclair said.
"We are in a holding pattern.
"The clubs need some certainty by at least the middle of June.
"The last thing we want to do is put up the white flag only to find a Hume, Tallangatta or even Goulburn Valley league are going and all of a sudden the O and M is being drawn on to bolster playing stocks in those competitions."
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Footballers get paid and even though salary caps have been adjusted for shortened seasons the football economy has had the shutters up.
Sponsors are in a fight of their own to stay open and match-day revenue from canteens and bars won't be there due to crowd restrictions almost certain to be in place if football does get a green light.
The O and M's long term sponsor, the SS&A Club, has been shut since late March.
AWFA president Mark Leman is more bullish about soccer's prospects, partly due to its amateur status, but agrees there is still a long road ahead to a season kick-off.
"We are only in stage one of restrictions being eased and there is eight weeks before we could start," he said.
"Lots can change in that period of time.
"The next biggest challenge we are going to hit once we get the guidelines about a re-start is how do our volunteers manage them.
"We are going to need parents to step up to the plate.
"If they've never helped in the past, they now have to, you can no longer be a sideline spectator."
Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula this week provided no real joy for community sports or crowds who wanted to watch them.
"The amount we are able to free things up and the amount we are able to approach something normality, will be about how closely people follow the new arrangements," he said.
"We recognise there are a range of community sporting clubs in all parts of Victoria who are doing it very tough.
"Even if sport is being undertaken, they [crowds and social events] are still going to be some way away."
Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett is helping re-boot footy at the elite level, but watching closely the impacts the pandemic is having at the grassroots level.
He said the biggest hurdles for community competitions in regional areas with minimal to no virus cases was the "one rule for all" approach from governments and traditional revenue streams from sponsors simply not available.
"A lot of the car yards would be involved in local sport, but I suspect their sales are down 40 to 50 per cent and I further suspect there will be disruption into the way they operate in the future," he said.
"The same would apply to your pubs and everything else.
"Sadly I don't think there is much we can do.
"Local MPs might argue a case, but they don't carry much weight in terms of the decision making.
"I'm not aware of any magic wand."
Training has to be held on a "get in, train, get out" basis where players are urged to dress and shower at home with the traditional Thursday night post-training get-together off-limits.
In the event a season does get up clubs could be required to clean changerooms after the completion of each grade which places additional workload on already stretched volunteers.
Spectators, if allowed, could even be banned from attending team huddles at the breaks in play.
Canteens and bars could also be discouraged to prevent people gathering in close proximity.
The looming bitter pill to stomach for the O and M was the prospect of one of its most competitive seasons in decades not taking place.
Seven of its 10 clubs had realistic finals aspirations.
"The competition has really started to even out," Mr Sinclair said.
"There was also the fairytale of Myrtleford going into the season as flag favourites, 50 years after their only premiership and everything else that goes with that.
"The thing I'm really missing is definitely the social aspect and the catching up on a weekly basis with what I call the O and M family.
"It gives you that release from work at the end of the week, but you are not getting it now."
The cruel irony for Myrtleford is being in local government area where there has been zero coronavirus cases recorded.
The O and M administers its own affairs compared to other leagues which operate under the AFLNEB hub model with O and M staff able to access JobKeeper to remain in their roles.
They are also drawing down on annual leave and a further $80,000 has been sourced from other government-related stimulus packages to ensure the league comes out the other side of COVID-19 intact.
"If we don't play there is no doubt we are going to take a hit," Mr Sinclair said.
"But at least we know we will be able to survive the year and go into 2021 in reasonable shape."
