WPQ COVID-19 | Update #2
Published Mon 16 Mar 2020
Over the weekend, Water Polo Queensland Inc. (WPQ) received advice from Water Polo Australia that effective from today (Monday March 16, 2020) the OVO Australian Waterpolo League (AWL) will be terminated for 2020, the 2020 WPA National Championships due to be held in Adelaide in late May will be cancelled and the Open Championships (Country and Masters) due to be held on the Gold Coast in early May will be postponed (date to be confirmed).
With the current threat of Coronavirus (COVID-19) impacting the health and wellbeing of all Australians, we find ourselves in unchartered territory and some very challenging decisions regarding participation in water polo competitions, events and programs have to be made.
BWPI and WPQ must put the health and safety of our athletes, officials, staff, volunteers and spectators at the forefront of all decision making. WPQ has taken guidance from the WPA, Federal and State Governments and Health Agencies, Sport Australia and other health authorities, to amend our State events calendar as well as training programs and competitions.
Following consultation with our key stakeholders and effective from today, BWPI and WPQ have made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the 2019/2020 BWPI Summer Competition (including the Women’s and Men’s competitions on a Monday and Tuesday night). We appreciate our community have invested a lot of time, effort and resources into preparing teams and that coaches and players will have been looking forward to continuing to participate in the BWPI competition, especially as we approach the finals series. However, we feel that it is important that we play our part, as the water polo community, in reducing the spread of COVID-19 out of respect for all Australians and the health care system.
The BWPI Junior competition will be deemed completed as per last weekend (Saturday 14th March) which was the final round of the competition. Minor Premiers will be released as per the updated table on Wednesday 18 March. Trophies and medals will be available for collection from the WPQ office week beginning the 23rd March.
This season has once again been a fantastic competition with record numbers of participants and teams. The BWPI committee and WPQ would like to thank all involved from players, coaches and parents. We all appreciate your commitment to running this wonderful sport and wish you all the best during these unprecedented times.
WPQ are continually monitoring the situation and will keep all athletes, coaches and members informed of any changes or updates to the current Coronavirus situation.
Once again, we thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the BWPI Competitions Manager via email at operations@bwpi.org or for urgent matters contact the WPQ CEO via email ceo@waterpoloqld.com.au or mobile 0412 164416.
Jointly signed by Ian Quinn – BWPI President and Mel Woosnam – CEO Water Polo Qld.
