Northern NSW Football has confirmed updates to the final rounds of its NPL Men’s NNSW and HIT106.9 Northern League One competitions.
NPL Men’s NNSW
The NPL Men’s NNSW competition will play round 22, the final round of its regular season, this weekend. The penultimate round of the season was moved to Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility last weekend ahead of expected significant rain fall which hit the Hunter region.
Despite best efforts to get all fixtures played, the matches between Maitland FC and Belmont Swansea United as well as New Lambton FC and Newcastle Olympic were abandoned due to lightning.
Final Round
With more rain forecast for the region this week, NNSWF has made the decision to again move all round 22 matches to LMRFF this weekend. With all matches originally scheduled for the same time on Sunday, some matches have now changed days and kick-off times.
The biggest changes see the match between Edgeworth Eagles and Charlestown Azzurri moved to Friday 8 August, while the clash between Broadmeadow Magic and Cooks Hill United has moved to Saturday 9 August.
Abandoned Matches
The abandoned round 21 NPL Men’s NNSW matches between (Maitland FC v Belmont Swansea United, New Lambton FC v Newcastle Olympic) will recommence next Wednesday 13 August after the final round.
Catch Up Matches
Three previously scheduled catch up matches remain unchanged for this Wednesday night, 6 August.
New Lambton FC host Adamstown Rosebud in their rescheduled round 11 match at Alder Park, while Maitland FC welcome Cooks Hill United to Cooks Square Park and Weston Bears take on Newcastle Olympic at Rockwell Automation Park in their round 13 fixtures.
LMRFF has been locked in as a backup venue for all three fixtures should they be washed out.
HIT106.9 Northern League One
The final round of HIT106.9 Northern League One will also be moved to LMRFF this weekend.
All round 18 fixtures will be played on Saturday, with some reserve grade matches played on Friday night.
Abandoned Match
The abandoned round 17 match between Lake Macquarie City FC and West Wallsend SFC will recommence at LMRFF on Tuesday 5 August, starting at 6.30pm.
Catch Up Match
The washed out round 17 match between Cessnock City Hornets and Thornton Redbacks will be played at LMRFF on Tuesday 5 August. Kick-off is at 8pm.
NPL Women’s NNSW
NPL Women’s NNSW fixtures for round 20 this weekend will be monitored.
With this being the penultimate round of the competition and next week available for catch up matches, fixtures will remain as scheduled for this weekend.
Details for all matches are now live in Squadi.
NNSWF General Manager Football Operations Liam Bentley said while some outcomes were not ideal, the best decisions possible had been made.
“I echo some of the sentiments from last week in that we fully understand and appreciate that clubs value their home fixtures from a footballing and financial perspective. But the reality is that very few matches will be playable on natural turf under the current and forecasted conditions again this weekend,” Bentley said.
“Given the saturated condition of many grounds and with this being the final week of the regular season, with several clubs also scheduled for midweek fixtures next week, it is imperative we take proactive steps to ensure all matches proceed this weekend.
“We understand the disruption that moving times and venues causes for players and coaches at this level, as well as the lost revenue from a home club perspective in having a home match relocated. These decisions are certainly not made lightly.
“With recent experience, we believe moving as many games as possible to the synthetic fields in the face of more potential rainfall, keeping in mind many turf pitches are already waterlogged, will ensure that these matches go ahead at a critical point in the season and reduce the impact of the weather on premiership races, finals qualification and relegation battles.
“I’d again like to thank clubs and their players and volunteers for their understanding and patience as we have worked towards these outcomes.”
See all match details in Squadi.
