Serbian Rugby League clubs resumed training this week after two months of lock down because COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the month, local government loosened hard quarantine measures and outdoor sports are among the first organized activities to get permission to go back to work.
Closely working with the clubs, SRL changed the season calendar on the fly, so the official restart is set for June 6th with Serbian Cup Quarterfinals. Further Cup matches Semis and Gran Final will take up most of the next months restarted competition.
We are honoring all the government safety measures in our decision to resume the season, says SRL secretary general Vladan Kikanovic. Life in Serbia is slowly going back to normal, so we are also really carefully resuming preparing for the competition restart. As it stand at the beginning of the June we will play Cup matches.
Pandemic stoppage forced SRL to extend spring part of the season into July. Three rounds of the SRL Super League will be played, as the qualification process was finished before quarantine. Holders Red Star, Partizan and both Radnickis from Belgrade and Nis will battle for Serbian throne.
At international level our priority this season was U19 European championship which is postponed, but we will continue to build our squad, so we are hoping to be able to continue tradition and have our annual Belgrade Trophy in August. Terms of travelling worldwide arent yet set so its just our projection that we can have foreign guests to play our boys. Also, later in the second part of the season our focus will be on fourth season of Balkan Super League and European Championship B added Kikanovic.
Condensed schedule means only a month will be SRL season paused over the summer. After the Belgrade Trophy in the middle of the August, regional Balkan Super League will kick start its fourth season with new, Cup format. Serbian Super League will get is new champion in first weekend of October, while the rest of the month is reserved for Serbias game in European Championship B against Russia and Greece. BSL Grand Finals on will close up the season on November 2nd.
