On Monday 16 March, the EDJBA Committee of Management met and discussed in detail the impact of COVID-19 Coronavirus on our competition.

The Committee considered a range of potential options and balanced the management of risk and compliance with the current State of Emergency and suspension of competitions by Basketball Victoria, and has determined the following:

The Summer 2019/20 Season has been cancelled with effect from the Semi-Final round held on February 29, 2020. Premierships will not be formally awarded as no Preliminary Finals or Grand Finals were played, however the Committee resolved that those teams who had already qualified for Grand Finals by winning their Qualifying Final will be recognised for this achievement.
At this stage the Winter 2020 season will take place, subject to the lifting of suspensions of play by Basketball Victoria and suitable risk management strategies being in place.
Given that the suspension of play will last until at least mid-April, the start of the Winter season has been delayed by 2 weeks and Round 1 is now hoped to be played on 2 May (the week previously allocated for Round 2). The Winter season will be shortened by 1 round to 14 rounds as a result. This will also allow clubs to complete their pre-season planning processes in a timely fashion given the impact of COVID-19 measures.
Should Basketball Victoria extend their suspension, or the state government extends the state of emergency, then the Committee will review this and alter the current plan as necessary.
The Committee has also determined that as soon as there is an opportunity for competition to resume, it will do so regardless of the timing – at this stage there is no indications that the Winter season will be cancelled entirely.

The current situation with regard to COVID-19 is extremely dynamic, with a range of factors changing on almost a daily basis. The EDJBA encourages all stakeholders to remain calm and follow directions from the Department of Health to minimise the potential for the spread of the virus in the community.

We appreciate the support of our large community and are excited for competition to resume at the earliest opportunity.