BATHURST District Football has set a July 5 start date for its senior competitions in 2020, but now it is a matter of what format they will take.
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The BDF was quick to set a firm start date in the wake of Wednesday morning's announcement that the state government had approved a July 1 return to senior community sport.
That approval came on the back of last Tuesday's green light for junior sport and it was something BDF president Andrew Speed was please to hear.
"We were getting a bit frustrated for the seniors, yeah it was good when we found out juniors could play, but it was frustrating for seniors," he said.
"So to have this news now, it's good, we can start planning, we can move forward and try and get the best season we can.
"July 5 that's the plan, if everybody is ready, we have still got three weeks."
The BDF senior competitions involve not only a number of clubs from across Bathurst, but teams from Oberon, Mudgee, Lithgow and Milthorpe as well as school outfits from Scots All Saints College and Kinross Wolaroi School.
Speed is unsure just how many teams will confirm their registration across the grades, but prior to the coronavirus pandemic, interest was strong.
"We had a couple more teams nominate that last year, but obviously that was in February and it's a different world since then. That's why we have sent an email out to see just who wants to play," he said.
That email also included four proposed competition structures for clubs to vote on. All include 14 standard rounds, with the variation coming in the finals structure and proposed season conclusion dates.
One option is a first past the post system used to determined the premiers. That would finish around October 4.
A competition with grand final involving the top two in the minor premiership concluding around October 11, or a two-week cup style finals series finishing on October 18 are two other options that have been tabled.
Clubs can also vote to have a normal three-week finals series. The end date for that is envisaged to be around October 25.
"It's good to get other people's ideas about what we do and when we finish ... we can then try and plan the season depending on what answers we get," Speed said.
