Eager masters footballers from the Albany Vikings regroup for 2021 as carnival postponed

Eager masters footballers from the Albany Vikings will have to wrap themselves in cotton wool until next year after the AFL Masters National Carnival in October was postponed.

AFL Masters WA, along with the AFL Masters national board, made the tough decision to postpone the national carnival to be held in Perth this year, due to the impact of COVID-19.

Albany Vikings would have had a strong representation at the carnival and although it was disappointing president Sean Maguire said it was necessary.

“We would have had half-a-dozen or more go up in the different age groups,” Maguire said.

“The decision is understandable, the committee and State board have done a great job in organising the carnival and for making the tough decision to postpone.

“There is so many questions marks at the moment, you have to draw the line in somewhere.”

“Everything will just roll straight into 2021 and it will be business as usual.”

The national carnival will be held in Perth at a similar time in 2021.

With restrictions on sport the Vikings have been doing football training over Zoom every Thursday night.

“We have about 12 blokes on Zoom to just catch up and have a beer,” Maguire said.

“We had been getting amazing numbers to training, this year was looking really positive, but now it’s a big disappointment.

“Between 25-40 blokes we’ve had at training which is amazing for us, in the last five, six years we have been rebuilding.

“It’s more than footy for us, it’s about catching up with your mates and having a beer and a chat.”