Boorowa's 2020 XV's Beer and Rugby Festival Gala Day has been forced to cancel due to the impact of coronavirus.
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Boorowa Rugby President, Justin Fleming, said the club had made the decision to cancel the event prior to an announcement from Rugby Australia and the Member Unions regarding the cancellations of all training and events until May 1.
"We decided it would be irresponsible of us to have it (the gala day) and so we decided early to cancel it," he said.
"This decision was made on Sunday, because we'd expect to have more that 500 people and there would be a lot of close contact going on with respect to the coronavirus.
"However on Monday Rugby Australia issued a statement that all trial matches, training, competition matches etc, were to be deferred until May 1, we would have fallen under that so we would have had to cancel it anyway," he said.
Fleming said the decision meant the event would not be held until 2021.
"At this stage the information we've got is there will be no training, trial matches or competition matches until May 1, but that's evolving every week," he said.
"That's the direction for now and then we'll see what information comes out in the next few weeks, I can't see them bringing it back but whether it goes longer I'm not sure.
"Thanks to all the teams that signed up, we're sorry that it has come to this but it has been taken out of our hands.
"But we'll be back in full force in 2021," he said.
Fleming said the club was still planning on competing in a full season of rugby.
"Hopefully at this stage we are full steam ahead for the season to start at May 1, but we'll keep abreast of information between now and then," he said.
"If we were able to play from then, we'd miss one home game, so it wouldn't be disastrous.
"There is a bit of an economic impact of loosing the Gala Day for the club and the community, but we don't have a choice really.
"We are still looking forward to a good season, despite these interruptions we do extend a big thank you to our loyal sponsors and fans who no doubt understand the predicament we are in," he said.
