THE Coronavirus pandemic has continued to cause chaos on the local sporting scene after two of the most anticipated school events were cancelled.
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The Armidale School (TAS) has elected to cancel its annual rugby carnival and the Northern NSW da Vinci Decathlon, as part of the school's response to the pandemic.
A record 52 school and club teams from as far as Western Australia had registered for this year's TAS Rugby Carnival on April 17-19.
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The largest primary-aged rugby carnival in the country, the event normally brings around 1000 players and coaches, and hundreds of other supporters.
TAS head of school Alan Jones said the decision was made in light of the federal government's advice to not hold events of more than 500 people.
"We know how much these events mean to our students, the wider community in Armidale, as well as those who come to our school from far afield," Jones said.
"However both these signature events bring many hundreds of people to Armidale and we are very aware that this would increase exposure within our town to possible inadvertent carriers of Coronavirus.
"While we are saddened by our decision to cancel these events, we are also very aware of the more serious potential threat to the whole community by running them."
Jones said the school's critical incident management team was daily assessing the latest advice from government, health and education authorities and the school executive had put in place a management plan to respond to the potential spreading of the virus.
