A second week of lockdown for regional areas has impacted on the remaining rounds of the Grafton Hockey Association competitions. There is the possibility of the final round games being played for the women’s competition and 3rd Grade men, but subject to the COVID lockdown finishing (as currently scheduled for 12.01am on August 28). However, with COVID numbers continuing to climb, many players are bracing themselves for ongoing restrictions.
Although teams have missed a couple of games, for most grades the rankings on the ladder are unlikely to change.
The expected Minor Premiers in the Senior competition are as follows: men’s 1st Grade – Royals Clocktower; women’s 1st Grade – Barbs Helgas; women’s 2nd Grade – Village Angles; women’s 4th Grade – Kylies Kasuals. The 3rd Grade Minor Premiers for both men’s and women’s are still in the balance, depending if games can be played on the 28th.
The Junior competitions Minor Premiers are: Div 1 girls – Royals Girls; Div 2 girls – South Cubs; Under 13 boys – Royals Rangers; Div 3 girls – Sailors Stars; and Under 11 boys – City Bears.
It is unclear what the call on the Under 16 boy’s Minor premiership will be, as City Bears finished one point ahead of Royals Jets, but Royals had a game in hand that was cancelled due to COVID.
GHA members remain hopeful that some kind of finals competition can be held in coming weeks, with the GHA Junior & Senior fixtures committees coming up with some options of how things might run depending on when COVID restrictions might ease. Fingers crossed for all the hockey lovers out there.
Angie Day