Media Release
Unfortunately, the NSW Senior State Championships, to be played Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st March 2021 is postponed.
The new dates are Friday 14th, Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th May 2021.
The weather forecast for Thursday through to Sunday is a very high chance of rain (80% to 95%). The range predicted to fall is anywhere between 83 to 180mm.
In normal circumstances this would not prevent us from playing on several of the fields however, Coffs Harbour like the rest of NSW, has experienced above average rain fall. Coffs Harbour’s average rainfall for a year is 1600mm yet 1200mm has fallen since January & 300mm of this in the last month. The significance of this is the amount of water still in the ground. If the minimum rain predicted falls the fields will still be water logged and unplayable.
So, after considering the weather forecast and liaising with Councils Stadium Team and Greenkeepers, Australian Oztag believes the only decision in the best interest of all, is to postpone the tournament now before anyone begins their travels. It would be reckless to roll the dice and travel to Coffs only to then call it off when the rain falls.
By making this decision now we hope to minimize the impact and allow teams to make arrangements with accommodation & travel.
Coffs Harbour City Council, Mayor Cr Denise Knight commented “Coffs Harbour has been the home of OzTag for many years, and of course while it is disappointing to reschedule, we understand. Over the last year we have become much more adept to change. We are experiencing a huge amount rain of late and there are still flood warnings in place. We thank Bill and the Australian OzTag team for their foresight in making a decision to postpone to a more optimal time. Thanks also to all our tourism and accommodation providers for their flexibility in rescheduling bookings for the revised dates. We look forward to welcoming players officials and their guests again in May.”
For further clarification on the significant rainfall expected, please see the NSW Incident Alerts.
Bill Harrigan
AO General Manager
Tournament Director