The impending domestic travel ban was the straw that broke the Hockey ACT back.
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Their competitions have been indefinitely postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Hockey ACT chief executive Rob Sheekey expecting it to last until at least May.
At the moment, hockey players can still train, but that could change in the coming days.
The federal government's domestic travel ban announced on Sunday further complicated matters after ANU Hockey had already been forced to indefinitely withdraw from competition.
They had 17 teams across all grades.
But Hockey ACT also has teams from Albury and Goulburn, who only play in the Canberra competition and aren't affiliated with Hockey ACT.
"We've postponed the competition indefinitely. It doesn't seem in this environment there's much point putting an end-date on it," Sheekey told The Canberra Times.
"None of us know what the outcome looks like.
"The message went out to club presidents that we've postponed indefinitely with it unlikely for any competition to take place before at least May."
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The board already has two meetings scheduled over the next two weeks and will continue to monitor the situation.
Sheekey said they would give clubs at least two weeks' notice before resuming competition to ensure teams had enough time to prepare.
"We have Albury and Goulburn that participate in our competition as well," he said.
"The things that have happened this afternoon in regards to border closures coming into play it's just making it far too difficult for people to be able to participate in the competition regardless.
"The feedback from our clubs was that probably 80 per cent of our participants were keen to continue to play.
"The reality of that is if 80 per cent of people in one team want to play then you don't have a team to take the field so it was becoming more and more difficult.
"Even in the last two hours we've seen an escalation again in the number of [coronavirus] cases in the ACT so the responsible thing is to close it down for the time being and follow suit of a majority of other sports."
David Polkinghorne
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
