Capital Football has cancelled the Kanga Cup for the first time in its history, putting the tournament's 30th anniversary celebrations on hold until 2021.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The largest junior football tournament in the southern hemisphere was scheduled to be held in Canberra from July 5-10 this year.
Strict travel bans and social distancing regulations left tournament officials with no option other than to suspend the competition, given interstate and international participants make up nearly 75 per cent of teams.
Teams from the United States, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Indonesia, East Timor and Fiji have all taken part in previous years.
Capital Football considered scaling down the event and holding it in the October school holidays, but tournament direct Megan Salic said there were still too many unknown factors to consider amid the coronavirus crisis.
"We went through a couple of different models to find different ways to do it but it just wasn't going to be what we wanted it to be, especially with it being the 30th anniversary," Salic said.
"We wanted to make sure we put it on as the Kanga Cup deserves. We can't do that when we don't know when the borders are going to be open, or when people are going to be able to travel or even play sports again.
"What is the largest football tournament in the southern hemisphere without international football teams?
"Without knowing that stuff, it's difficult for us to push ahead with an event like that.
"We were thinking about doing a scaled down event in October but it wasn't appealing. It's a massive event for Canberra, for football and for Australia, it deserves to be put on like it deserves."
Capital Football had not opened team registrations yet but did receive many expressions of interest before the coronavirus pandemic shutdown sports across the globe.
It comes as a massive loss to Capital Football being its biggest money spinner.
The Kanga Cup brought a $5.2 million boost to the ACT economy last year, with more than 4500 players and several thousand more coaches, parents and support staff staying in the capital.
"We made sure we approached our partners and expressed interest and understanding about what the Kanga Cup gives back to the community," Salic said.
"Before this season was out, we were already talking to our partners about it probably not going ahead.
"We communicated with them to make sure they were aware and could make any changes they needed to in their business to survive through it.
"It's incredibly hard to talk to people who you spend money and make revenue with annually to say 'sorry, we're unable to run it this year.'"
The next edition of the Kanga Cup will be held on July 4-9, 2021. Capital Football hopes to make it the biggest tournament yet to celebrate the belated 30th anniversary.
"We're looking forward to 2021, to give the Kanga Cup the recognition it deserves for its 30th anniversary," Salic said.
"We're going to do it bigger and better, it'll be the best attended."
Lucie Bertoldo
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
