Roadmap reveals delayed start for summer sport seasons

The Victorian government released its roadmap out of lockdown on Sunday with a pathway set for community sport that will force the likes of the Bendigo District Cricket Association and the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields Bowls Region to delay their scheduled starting dates.

Competitive indoor and outdoor community sport is not permitted until Victoria reaches the 80 per cent fully vaccinated mark of the 16-plus age group - which is expected around November 5.

Training for outdoor community sport is permitted now, but training for indoor community sport remains banned until that 80 per cent fully vaccinated mark of the 16-plus age group is hit.

The same restrictions apply for senior and junior sports.

Premier Dan Andrews did indicate that the restrictions could change if the dates for the 80 per cent vaccination rate arrive earlier or later.

Read the guidelines for community sport here:

The BDCA and BCGBR had scheduled to start their seasons on Saturday, October 2, while the Emu Valley Cricket Association season was due to start one week later on October 9.

The Bendigo Tennis Association had also scheduled an October 9 hit-off for its pennant season.

BDCA president Travis Harling said the league would meet this week to discuss its options.

"We'll wait to see what guidelines are set by Cricket Victoria before we make any decisions,'' Harling said.

"The first four weeks of our season were scheduled to be one-day games. If we lose them we'd be left with 18 weeks to play either nine two-day games or 18 one-day matches like we did last year.

"We'll wait to see what advice Cricket Victoria has and we'll discuss our options."

The BCGBR had planned to start its new-look division one section on October 2, with the remainder of the pennant divisions to start on October 16.

With Moama joining the competition this season the BCGBR has the added dilemma of the travel bubble around the border region.

"We have a match committee meeting scheduled for Monday night and we'll get advice from Bowls Victoria as well,'' BCGBR president Paul Moller said.

"Obviously, the fixtures we had in place will need to be looked at. It's not ideal, but it's far from the end of the world."

The state government roadmap puts an end to the final glimmer of hope the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League had of playing its 2021 grand finals.

The league had been prepared to extend the season into the first weekend of October, but that plan was quashed by Sunday's state government announcement.

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