The New Zealand Secondary School (NZSS) Boys’ and Girls’ Lacrosse National Champs Tournament was scheduled to take place on 26-27 September 2020 at Tamahere Park in Hamilton.
After consultation with regional bodies and tournament organisers, the NZWLA and NZL have made the very difficult decision to cancel this year’s NZSS Boys’ and Girls’ Lacrosse National Champs Tournament. We will instead be holding a Waikato schools only regionally based tournament on these dates with the top four schools in Waikato within the requirements of the government’s alert levels. The girls’ tournament will be held at Tamahere Park, while the boys’ tournament will be held at Leamington Rugby Club.
We take the opportunity to thank the tournament organisers and Waikato Lacrosse for all of the hard work they have done so far. We know that this will be disappointing news to players, especially senior players, who were looking forward to attending what is annually our largest tournament. However, the last thing we want is for the virus to travel from Auckland to Waikato and we therefore all need to do our part to stamp out the virus.
While Auckland may return to Alert Level 2 in the near future, we have made this decision with the health and safety of our players and their supporters as our primary focus. With the current recommendations and guidance provided by the government, and uncertainty regarding COVID-19 in Auckland, we do not feel comfortable risking a large gathering event between regions with known COVID-19 cases still in New Zealand.
As only Waikato schools can take part, we cannot in good faith call the tournament a national event. We are considering the option of having the top Auckland and top Waikato school play a “straight final” to determine the national champion, but as this will not fit the School Sport New Zealand criteria for sanctioning, we will first need to discuss with the relevant schools whether they would be interested in taking part.
Unfortunately, postponing the whole tournament to later in the year is not an option. There are no further dates available in 2020 that fit the requirements of the school calendar i.e. exam time.
Please contact secretary@nzwlacrosse.nz with any questions at this stage.
Up to date information is available through the following websites:
New Zealand Government: https://covid19.govt.nz/
Sport New Zealand: https://sportnz.org.nz/covid-19-response/overview/
Ministry of Health: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus
World Health Organisation: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019