The Yass Junior Rams Rugby Union Club’s season is officially over, making it the first, but expectantly not the last, of our local sporting clubs to fall to the recent Canberra Covid outbreak.

ACT Junior Rugby Union made the announcement in a media release on Tuesday, written by the League President Martin Sullivan.

“Regrettably, but not unsurprisingly, the ACT Junior Rugby Union has made the difficult decision to call an end to the 2021 season of junior rugby and cancel the Finals series and the Girls Rugby Gala event in September. In reaching our decision, the ACTJRU considered its obligations to comply with the directions of the ACT Government as well as our broader obligation to provide participants with a safe environment in which to play rugby. Even if lockdown was to be lifted on 2 September, there are a number of challenges that would prevent a finals series to be completed, such as the subsequent time available to prepare and plan for both a Finals series and the Girls Rugby Gala event and the safety of the participants. This means teams end the 2021 season in their position on the Competition Ladder with games played up to and including Round 11 of competition. We note that other future representative events, including the national program managed by Rugby Australia and the Under 15’s fixture in Albury arranged by Brumbies Rugby, have also been cancelled. The ACTJRU would like to thank all the volunteers, players, parents and sponsors for their commitment and support of our great game during the interrupted 2020 and 2021 seasons. The ACTJRU urges everyone to remain safe and follow the COVID-19 guidelines as set out by the ACT Government. It is a most unfortunate situation that the players, coaches and families will miss the opportunity to complete the end of the rugby season in the traditional way, but the health and safety of our community is paramount,” he said.

President of the Junior Rams, Josh Leighton, was obviously somewhat disappointed by the news but understood the decision, especially with Canberra’s lockdown extended until September 2.

“They got the news out nice and early so that was good.”

“It’s disappointing. We had a very disrupted year this year and the last two years have been very disrupted.”

“We got all but the last round in so it wasn’t a total loss. It would’ve been good to play the finals but that’s how it is unfortunately,” he said.

The two teams who will be most disappointed are the Under 11’s and 12’s, who were shaping up to be finals contenders and peaking at the right time of year. For the Junior Rams, the focus now shifts to how they can regain momentum in season 2022.

“We started the planning process at the beginning of the season for next year, so we are getting ready for it already. We’ve still got a few things we need to do this year, like our Presentation Day,” said Josh.

With our rugby league, soccer and AFL leagues all centred around Canberra, the potential for an early finish to sport in 2021 threatens more each day the lockdown continues.

Max O’Driscoll