Junior Soccer players in the Young Lions Junior Soccer Competition have been thanked by Young Lions president Paul Cameron after a last minute location switch was needed last Friday night.
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With the rain that has fallen in Young over the past couple of weeks both Gus Smith Oval and Hall Brothers Ovals in Young are currently too waterlogged to be played on, leaving organisers to scramble to move the majority of last week's matches to Forbes at the eleventh hour.
"A massive thanks to Forbes for inviting us to play there last weekend," Cameron said.
"Those who travelled had a very enjoyable time, it was like a totally different experience in the sun and playing on grounds that weren't water logged.
"A huge thanks to Grenfell for being so co-operative and eager to play in Forbes."
There were a number of teams from Young in particular who had to pull out of the round with logistics and other commitments leaving sides short of players.
However, a number of sides including Grenfell, were able to complete their matches heading into the home stretch of the 2021 competition.
"We are all volunteers on the committee and these decisions aren't made lightly and often come with lots of angst trying to please the majority," Cameron said.
"With unprecedented rain our grounds are saturated with too much surface water to play on safely.
"Happy to play in the rain and wind but our grounds just can't handle any more water."
On top of the cancellation of games in Young training is also up in the air with the grounds unable to be used.
"Training is cancelled or prohibited on Gus Smith and Hall Bros until further notice," Cameron said.
"There are other alternatives that some coaches are using."
With the Young grounds in doubt with further rain forecast for this week and next the committee will be holding a meeting to discuss the remainder of the season.
"We will be having a meeting on Wednesday 5-6pm at the Young S & C Club to discuss going forward as there is a strong possibility we won't be playing at Gus Smith this Saturday and other alternatives are being investigated," Cameron said.
Between the weather and COVID-19 Cameron has said the committee is trying to ensure that the rest of the season will go ahead as easily as it possibly can and if that means travelling for the remainder of the season, so be it.
"We are trying our hardest to keep playing in these crazy COVID-19 times as it is getting closer and we want the kids running around kicking a soccer ball having fun and if we have to travel like Forbes and Grenfell do every second week I think it is a small price to pay bonding in the car or car pooling like some did on the weekend but we can discuss that on Wednesday."