THIRTEEN hours of action will be lost this weekend as NSW Junior State Cup touch football organisers move people on from the Tuffins Lane and Regional Stadium precincts after their fixtures.
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But the northern conference system will proceed in Port Macquarie in a COVID-safe way with 3000 people allowed in the venue at any one time.
NSW Touch Football Association general manager Dean Russell said unlike the NSW State Cup which was held last December, there would be no need for specific zones to be set up.
There will, however, still be guidelines to be met.
"We can now have 3000 people across the precinct at any one time and they can all move around freely," he said.
This will be slightly different to the senior NSW State Cup at the end of 2020 when a maximum of 500 people could only be in any one of the four zones which were set up at any one time.
"90 percent of parents understand it; they don't necessarily like it, but they understand it," Mr Russell said.
Mr Russell said as a result, only one parent per child will be allowed to spectate.
"We have 10 percent of people who are quoting to us that you can have 30,000 or 40,000 people inside a stadium, but we try to point out that we have written confirmation from the health minister," he said.
"That confirmation states we can only have 3000 people."
Clubs will be issued with colour-coded wristbands this week which will correlate to where they will be permitted entry.
The competition structure will be similar to the NSW State Cup in December where players competed under the Arrive Play Leave format.
That format will allow for a 90-minute break between time slots.
"We will lose 13 hours of play over the course of the weekend," Mr Russell said.
The maximum amount of teams set to compete under the health regulations has been reached with 210 set to take to the fields.
"Normally we have around 240, so we're right on the limit of what we can have under this structure," Mr Russell said.
"We'd love to have the 14,000 people wandering around because it's a fantastic atmosphere, but right now we can't do that."
Each club will have only one team per age group while there will be no under-8 division.
"It's all systems go," Mr Russell said.
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