Goulburn Valley Playing Area has cancelled all midweek pennant and state over 60s pairs matches scheduled for this week as the flood crisis continues to worsen across the region.
The association sent out an email to all clubs on Sunday morning informing them of the decision, citing it had a “duty of care” to its members and forging ahead with the fixtures would not have been safe.
This comes after the GVPA abandoned all of its weekend pennant matches over the weekend for the same reason.
Goulburn Valley Bowls Region secretary Stephen McGregor said the decision was unanimous among all clubs.
“We have a due consideration of a duty of care to our members who are experiencing flooding,” McGregor said.
“It’s a general consensus that due to the fact most of our greens are unable to be played on, and particularly for people travelling long distances, people have got enough problems than worrying about how to get to a game of bowls.
“Seymour Bowling Club is still under water, Euroa had damage to their greens and club house.
“Rushworth have been pumping water off of their greens. There’s a number of greens across the region which are simply unplayable.”
With the forecast unfavourable towards the end of next week, McGregor said getting the large part of the weekend pennant season under way wasn’t likely, but the association would wait and see in the coming days.
“Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the weather isn’t looking too good,“ he said.
“Down here in Seymour, we’ve looking at 10mm to 20mm each of those three days.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we finished up cancelling next weekend’s pennant as well.”
Midweek pennant matches in divisions one and five will be rescheduled, with the association having a spare day available on Tuesday, December 20, to host the round two matches.
Players in divisions two, three and four will not get the opportunity to have these cancelled matches played, with the earlier start to the season meaning they do not have a spare day available.
The 60 and over state pairs competition scheduled for Tatura Bowls Club has been postponed to Wednesday, November 9, and Thursday, November 10.
The venue of the rescheduled fixtures is still to be decided.