Due to the COVID-19 safety protocols that would be required to be in place, Mudgee Touch Association in consultation with NSW Touch made the 'difficult decision' to cancel it.

While attempts were made to find other options, "the risk unfortunately outweighed all else".

"The gala day is an opportunity for many students to play touch football for the first time, and for some of them, they get the bug and want to play more so they sign up to play in our junior competition," Mudgee Touch vice-president, Ben Harris said.

"We might miss those first-timers but we will have a lot of returning players. I'm sure we will continue to have a strong junior competition when it begins later this year."

Schools from Mudgee, Gulgong, Kandos, Rylstone, Hargraves, Ulan, Illford, Hill End, Dunedoo and Coolah typically attend the gala day, with last year's numbers accounting for 50 to 60 teams.

The Hornets Championships that was scheduled for September in Maitland has also been cancelled, marking the first axing of a tournament Mudgee Touch would otherwise attend.

But hope is not all lost with NSW Touch confirming that multiple other competitions are still booked to go ahead.

"NSW Touch have been corresponding with all affiliates and keeping them updated on their plans. They have told us that their representative season is still going ahead so that means the Country Championships in October, December's State Cup in Port Macquarie and next year's Junior State Cup are on at this stage," Harris said.

"Mudgee is set to host the Don Green Western Junior Championships in November, there has been no indication that is going to change. But, the situation is changing daily, so it's a 'time will tell' sort of process.

"Hopefully we can begin our 2020-21 season on time in October. There will be some changes to the competition that will need to be made in order to maintain the safety and wellbeing of our members; the health of our members is paramount."

The Mudcrabs, who have recently decided on an official club logo that will feature their establishment date (1983) and altered their website, have been hosting rounds of representative trials.

And, Harris says numbers indicate a potential for more teams to attend tournaments.

"We have had more than 250 responses from people wishing to play for Mudgee in juniors and senior age groups. Some age groups have seen up to 25 expressions of interests, which is a good number for us," he said.

"Trials for those teams are currently underway and it looks like we could have more teams travelling to tournaments. For example, there has been interest shown for a Men's 20s and Men's 30s teams."