COVID-19 threatens start of Border summer sport after wiping out winter

With the winter sporting calendar decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was hoped the outlook would look far more promising come October.

However, with the NSW-Victoria border still closed and active coronavirus case numbers high in Victoria, cricket, tennis, lawn bowls, water polo and athletics and among several sports uncertain of what a return to play might look like.

For Albury Little Athletics Centre, more than half of its committee members reside in Victoria and secretary Elisabeth McGuire has huge concerns on how they will run a season for its 200-plus members if restrictions remain in place.

"The NSW centres look like they're going to get up and running before Victoria, but the problem Albury has is we have 64 athletes coming from the Victorian side, all the way up to Mount Beauty," McGuire said.

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"At the moment, even if they could get across with a permit, the NSW government has a plan in place to exclude all Victorians from NSW sporting activities.

"Our position is a difficult one because we've got to tick a lot of boxes before we can even get going, but having the manpower to run the centre is a another challenge.

"We've got more than 230 kids and five of our eight committee members are in Wodonga.

"We can't even send them to Wodonga or another Victorian centre because they can't run until maybe mid-October, but more likely the 28th of November when sport can come back.

"We're saying to people we're going to have a season and we're working hard to make that happen, but basically the practicality of running a season is going to be difficult."

McGuire said the centre would normally be commencing its registration process at this time of year, but remains hopeful of starting competition by mid-October.

Ovens and Murray Bowls Region president Laureen Smith said the body has not yet conducted its annual general meeting, making it increasingly difficult to make decisions on the upcoming season.

The committee has proposed three options for pennant bowls, the first being an October 10 commencement for weekend competition, followed by November 7 and a last resort of January 16, 2021.

"We're relying on the NSW government to a great degree because we've got four clubs on the NSW side," Smith said.

"Bowls Victoria is still trying to get its state stuff up and running, so we will be prioritising our state games as quickly as we can.

"To do that, we need to be able to have people from NSW come over and play."

Yarrawonga-Mulwala Golf Club Resort and Corowa Civic Bowling Club are two NSW-based clubs which regularly host major Ovens and Murray events.

Ovens and Murray Water Polo president Tom Hogan is a little more optimistic.

However, with around 100 of the association's 500 members based in Victoria, it will be far from straightforward to get started.

"I guess there's huge implications for our Victorian members right now and that's brutal," Hogan said.

"We're looking at ways to get the competition up and going.

"We have Albury as a main pool and Lavington to support us, but it's hugely challenging.

"With everything else kind of shut down coming into next year, we're always looking to attract new members that might use water polo as a pre-season for football.

"Families out there are dying to get some sort of structured sport back and we think we can do that."

Hogan said the committee is looking to start the season around the middle of October, but the format is yet to be determined.

"Our junior component is what we've got to look after right now," he said.

"A lot of them did so well at nationals last year, so we've got to keep that momentum going for those kids."

Meanwhile, Cricket Albury Wodonga is still awaiting information from Cricket Victoria and the Victorian government before announcing its plans.

The season is scheduled to start on October 10.

Albury Tennis Association has flagged October 17 as a possible opener for its summer pennant competition.