Coastal Premier League to conclude early. New conference competitions start 29 August 2020.

Coastal Premier League (CPL) today announced that due to further New South Wales Government COVID-safety requirements, the competition would conclude early and then take a new form for the rest of the season.

The CPL at present involves ten teams from the Coffs Harbour area, Taree, Kempsey and Port Macquarie. The NSW Government on Monday announced that community sport could not occur between zones of major regional areas for the next six weeks, at a minimum. As a result, teams from the north can no longer play teams from the south, and vice versa.  

As a result of the New South Wales Government changes:

• Six more matches will occur over the next week, and the team placed highest on the table after this will be Premier or Premiership winner of the inaugural Coastal Premier League.
• One match will occur tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2020, in Coffs Harbour; four matches will happen this Saturday in Coffs, Kempsey and Port Macquarie, and one match will occur next week in Kempsey.
• After these six matches, all teams will have played each other once in the CPL, enabling the declaration of a winner.
• Four teams, technically, are still in the running to win the inaugural competition: Port Saints, Coffs United, Boambee and Macleay Valley Rangers.

The matches to be played are:

• Wednesday, 19 August 2020, Coffs Coast Tigers vs Macleay Valley Rangers
• Saturday, 22 August 2020, Northern Storm vs Coffs City United
• Saturday, 22 August 2020, Sawtell v Boambee
• Saturday, 22 August 2020, Port Saints vs Port United
• Saturday, 22 August 2020, Kempsey Saints vs Taree Wildcats
• TBA w/c 24 August 2020, Kempsey Saints vs Macleay Valley Rangers

After these matches have competed the north and south will split into two conferences for the remainder of the season. In the north, the five teams will play each other; in the south, the five teams will play each other, in respective competitions. At the end of each conference, the team placed highest on the ladder will be declared the Premier in their respective conference.

The new conference competitions will commence on Saturday, 29 August 2020, and conclude by Saturday, 17 October 2020. This schedule will allow for up to ten rounds of football. Further refinements to both conference competitions will be made in the next week. Draws will be released soon after.

Today’s announcement marks the third change to the inaugural season of the CPL. Despite the changes, participants will receive their full allotment of regular-season matches as designed before the COVID-19 pandemic became an issue.

Statements attributable to:

South – Bruce Potter, General Manager, Football Mid-North Coast.

North – Andrew Woodward, General Manager, North Coast Football.

“What an incredible birth year this has been for the Coastal Premier League. Less than two months into the season, we’re now at version three of what we envisaged at the start of the season. It really is unprecedented.

“Full credit to the clubs, their players, their coaches and managers and their volunteers for sticking with this and working with us to keep teams on the park this year.

“The feedback from clubs was great. They were enjoying the inter-region competition and the higher standard of football week-in, week-out.

“The good news is that we will have that high standard for the rest of the season, comply with government requirements and conduct football in a COVID-safe manner.

ENDS

Background information:

NSW Government letter re changes to sport: Link

NSW Government FAQ re changes to sport: Link

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