Update, Saturday, March 14, 6.00pm:
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The Central Wimmera Tennis Association and the Horsham Cricket Association continued as per usual at the weekend, with a few extra precautions taken around hygiene.
Cricket Victoria advised the region's cricketers not to use saliva to shine the cricket ball, not to share drinks or sunscreen, and limit the amount of people allowed in the changerooms.
Tennis players were also encouraged not to shake hands before or after matches on Saturday, as the first week of finals got underway.
Association president Jeremy Quast said it was important to be proactive. Hand sanitizer was also made available for players and spectators court-side.
Earlier:
Some organised sporting events in the region may be cancelled, amid new federal government guidelines relating to the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that "non-essential" public gatherings of more than 500 people should be cancelled at a press conference on Friday afternoon, to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The emergency measures will effectively ban gatherings of more than 500 people, enacted from Monday.
AFL Wimmera-Mallee area manager Jason Muldoon said a decision on whether to cancel the region's football and netball games would be made by AFL Victoria in alignment with federal and state governments.
He said they would make a decision closer to the start of the season.
The Horsham District Football Netball League is scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 4.
"It is looking like a decision will be made for us, and we'll comply with the guidelines that are provided," Mr Muldoon said.
"We don't need to make a decision locally yet. We have some time before the start of the season which will allow us to make an informed decision.
"It's a very fluid situation at the moment. Everything is changing very quickly.
"We'll wait for advice ... but (this announcement) gives us some key guidelines around particular numbers."
Mr Muldoon said some football-netball clubs in the region would get more than 500 people attending home-and-away games.
"When you consider clubs that have four football teams of 20 each, then up to seven netball sides, I would suggest that some clubs would get more than 500 to their games," he said.
He added that football-netball matches were likely to be classified as "non-essential".
Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled things like school, work and "getting about your normal business" as essential activities.
Update, 5:20pm:
The Horsham Amateur Basketball Association suspended all basketball activities on Friday afternoon.
"As per instruction from Basketball Victoria in the attached letter from CEO Nick Honey, HABA will now suspend all basketball activities until further notice," the association said in a statement.
The finals of the summer competition in many junior and senior grades were scheduled to be played next week.
"We thank everyone for their cooperation during this unprecedented occurrence," the statement said
More to come.
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