GAME PLAYED IN HEAVEN BUT NOT ON SUNDAYS

COACHES in Sunday’s Gold Coast District Rugby Union minor semifinal have called on the district to permanently scrap the controversial fixture from future finals series.

Helensvale Hogs will take on Palm Beach Currumbin on Sunday without the services of centre Donny Ngwun and key forwards Whitney Ueta-Siteine and Daniel Stowers, who will sit out the match for religious reasons.

Helensvale coach Roscoe Deacon said the annual scheduling of a sudden-death final on the Sabbath created an unnecessary headache for clubs.

With five starters already unavailable through injury the Hogs depth will be tested as they take on the competition’s form team on Father’s Day.

“The Sunday minor semi-final is the one fixture everyone wants to avoid every year,” Deacon said.

“The frustrating thing for me is over the course of the season I’ve lost five to injuries.

“When you get to the pointy end that’s not unusual for this sport but then to have three more unavailable on top of those simply because it’s a Sunday fixture, that just adds up.

“Every round of the regular season is on a Saturday, it’s just this one Sunday fixture for a reason no one seems to know why.

“I think if we want to be inclusive and have the best players available to showcase the highest quality finals then we need to keep the season as Saturday fixtures only.”

There was no argument from opposition coach Jed Hogan, who experienced a headache of his own in last year’s campaign when a hailstorm forced Palm Beach’s Saturday semifinal to be delayed until Sunday.

Players were forced to seek special clearance from church elders to take the field, with several unsuccessful.

Hogan said his opposing coach was on the right track in calling for this season’s Sunday semi-final to be the district’s last.

“My understanding was it was discussed in board meetings after that (2020 semi-final) that there would not be matches on Sunday,” he said.

“Last year we were in the same boat where we had players who didn’t make themselves available because of the Sabbath.

“My preference would be against playing future fixtures on Sundays and particularly not on Father’s Day.”

GCDRU senior competitions manager Kristy Smith said the inclusion of a Sunday final was a necessary evil.

She explained the Saturday-Sunday split was to allow players in multiple grades to support each other.

“If the finals were on the same day second grade players would not be able to travel from other grounds to sit on the bench for first grade,” she said.

“We looked through the modelling with the club presidents at the start of the season and they voted for this model.”

Smith said the finals format would be available to vote on again before next season.