"BIGGER and better next year" is the promise after the State's most prestigious wool competition was cancelled for this year's Perth Royal Show.
Royal Agricultural Society of WA (RASWA) councillor in charge of the wool competition Ken Walker said the logistics of having fleece entries organised and delivered to the Claremont Showgrounds, tested and then in the two weeks before the show starts on Saturday, September 25, displayed and judged, made it too difficult to go ahead with the competition.
"I'm very disappointed it can't go ahead this year, but the wool competition will be back bigger and better next year I'm sure," Mr Walker said.
"Apart from logistics and staffing problems, I personally wasn't comfortable asking woolgrowers and the people who help at the showgrounds to contribute significant time and effort to the competition under the circumstances - we're safe (from COVID-19) at the moment, but who knows into the future?
"We (RASWA) had to decide which events and competitions we could realistically go ahead with this year."
On June 22 the State government announced this year's Perth Royal Show would go ahead and it provided an additional $4 million support package for RASWA and the show, including to fund a 25 per cent discount on ticket prices this year.
Mr Walker said he did not believe some growers who might want to enter the wool competition would have sufficient time to prepare fleeces, after it was announced the show would go ahead.
He said he had also been unable to get a "firm commitment" this year from the secondary colleges that previously provided senior students to help set up the wool competition and arrange fleeces in categories for judging during the two weeks before the show.
Wool competition entrants from previous years had been notified the competition was not being held this year, Mr Walker said.
A statement on RASWA's Perth Royal Show 2021 website under the wool competitions entries heading stated "due to time constraints required we will not be running the wool competition this year".
"This decision was not made lightly as we value all our competitions and competitors," it said.
The statement said "uncertainty of COVID-19 and lockdowns" was the reason it had "been required to amend the competitions available".
"We are hopeful for a strong Perth Royal Show in 2021 and dependent upon COVID-19 future restrictions, look forward to offering the wool competition again in 2022," it said.
There was no wool competition last year because the Perth Royal Show was cancelled due to COVID-19 public health concerns.
In previous years, entries for the wool competition closed about the end of the third week in August and fleeces were required to be delivered to the Claremont showgrounds on the Thursday and Friday of the second week of September.
Mr Walker, who is also RASWA councillor in charge of the shearing and woolhandling competition, pointed out that competition will go ahead this year.
Entries close at 4pm Friday, September 10 or will be accepted up to 9am on the opening show Saturday when the shearing and woolhandling competition will be held in the Jim Horwood Pavilion.
