WARRNAMBOOL City Netball Association and Warrnambool Volleyball Association have suspended all competitions until further notice amidst growing COVID-19 concerns.
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The Arc-based associations have been following the developments relating to the virus that is impacting many sports across the country and the world.
The Australian Federal Government advised that from Monday, March 16 all non-essential, organised mass gatherings of 500 or more should be cancelled.
WCNA does not have that figure but feels suspending competitions is the most effective way to limit the spread of the virus and also to protect the health of everyone involved in the association.
WVA announced on Monday that it had suspended all activity within the club for the foreseeable future, taking a similar approach to its netball counterparts.
"We have made the difficult decision to suspend all games and training until further notice," a club statement said.
"We hope to return after Easter but will inform all teams of occurrences prior to this time."
Many sports across the country and the world are coming to a halt or are being altered as a way to help contain the spread of the virus.
President Val Bertrand said the committee deeply discussed its approach and took close to four hours to decide in a meeting on Sunday.
THE WCNA has suspended Net Set Go, all-abilities, mixed, walking and junior competitions while it has approved the final games of the senior women's and club competition will conclude this week.
All-abilities netball was to begin on Monday while Net Set Go was to have a come-and-try event on the same day.
The association's six junior grades and its one mixed netball competition had already started their seasons. A new senior netball season was expected to start again in April.
Bertrand said the decision was not taken lightly by the association with exercise and sport an important part of many south-west residents' lives.
"We spent four hours together and had floated pros and cons and that was the decision we all agreed on in the final count," she said.
"We had three options that we could look at but we choose to do this one."
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
