New England Rugby: Magpies coach Peter Burke not surprised season called-off

The New England competition became the first of the region's major winter codes to be called off amid the current COVID crisis.

In a statement released on Thursday night, the zone said: "in light of the regional lockdown being extended to 10 September 2021 and an uncertain future regarding the resumption of community sport, New England Rugby Union has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the 2021 season".

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The competition had been suspended since August 7 when Armidale was plunged into lockdown. With Tamworth, and then the whole of regional NSW subsequently following, Burke said there was a sense of inevitability it would come to this.

"I think we've had a couple of weeks to prepare," he said.

"I don't think anyone was really surprised."

He said for the Magpies there was plenty to take away from the season, but admitted there was a bit of a feeling of unfinished business.

After a bit of a rocky start, before the season was abruptly interrupted they were starting to play the football Burke always knew they were capable of.

"I felt we were probably a darkhorse (going into the semi-finals)," he said.

"I am a realist; because we were coming from fourth spot it would have been hard. But I certainly would have gone into the semi-finals series thinking we're a chance."

But he said you can't lament on it.

"Sometimes luck is a fortune. Late in the year we got the boys (Mitch Watts, Harry Snook and Ben Wallace) back from Sydney and they filled some holes," he said.

"It really rounded us into a complete football team."

While a tough decision, New England president David Clifton believes it was the right one.

"There were so many factors at play in it and at the end of the day when you weighed them all up we couldn't continue to play," he said.

After holding off on a decision earlier in the week in the hope that the LGA's within the zone would come out of the lockdown, the announcement that it had been extended another two weeks really left them with no choice.

"We had determined that we had to complete the competition by September 25 and the return to play rules meant that we just could not fit it in in the time we had available to do it," Clifton said.

Under the return to play guidelines, if the lockdown was lifted on September 10, he said they wouldn't have been able to play for a week to two weeks.

Another major consideration was the situation for the two university-based clubs: St Alberts and Robb. Both were set to play a big role in the finals with St Alberts on top in all four grades.

"That was the significant unknown," Clifton said.

"The likelihood was anyone that came back onto campus would have to lock down for two weeks."

He said also playing in the back of their minds was that they were "possibly bringing people in from other areas that have COVID cases and we could possibly bring that into Armidale, Tamworth or Glen Innes".

In announcing the cancellation of the season, the zone also announced that they would not be crowning any premiers this season.

Clifton said they felt it was unfair to award a major premiership.

"There were four teams in each grade that would have had the opportunity to play to get into the grand final," he said.

It means that for the first time since 1947 the William Sawyers Shield, which is awarded to the first grade premiers, will not be presented.

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