Football, cricket, netball, soccer, hockey and rowing were just some of the sports forced to make drastic decisions in the wake of the worsening global pandemic.

Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Northern Tasmania

As the NTFA followed the State League's lead by postponing the start of its season, the statewide netball and soccer competitions were suspended, Cricket Tasmania advised all local competitions to stop and the Australian junior hockey and masters rowing championships became Tasmania's third and fourth national titles to be axed in a week.

The Cricket North grand final between Westbury and South Launceston, which was scheduled to run from Friday to Sunday, has been canned and the NTCA Ground shut while several mass participation competitions have also been put on hold.

After meeting with its member clubs, the Northern Tasmanian Junior Soccer Association, which attracts several thousand players and spectators to Churchill Park every Saturday throughout winter, delayed the start of its season from April 4 to May 2.

IN OTHER NEWS:

And late on Tuesday, Football Tasmania jumped on board, postponing all regional competitions until at least April 14 including the statewide league, which had been scheduled to start this weekend.

Having postponed last weekend's matches just hours before ladder-leading Launceston rivals Cavaliers and Northern Hawks were due to meet, Netball Tasmania announced that all competition in the state would be suspended.

Chief executive Aaron Pidgeon expressed an intent to recommence statewide competition as soon as possible and vowed to establish a working group to determine when that could happen.

There was a similar message from Football Tasmania which finally confirmed the postponement of all soccer competitions late on Tuesday afternoon.

The decision, made in unison with Football Federation Australia and other state bodies, will see the statewide NPL and WSL seasons delayed until further notice. All other competitions, including Championship leagues, junior leagues and futsal will also be postponed, as will club training.

The loss of national hockey and rowing championships due to be staged in Tasmania followed last week's cancellations of BMX and netball titles.

All were destined to attract large numbers of visitors and inject considerable money into the state's economy.

The Australian Masters Rowing Championships were scheduled to be held at Lake Barrington from April 29 to May 2.

Rowing Australia's Hobart-born chief executive Ian Robson said: "While we are disappointed to have to cancel this year's event, the health, wellbeing and safety of all the rowing community - participants, volunteers, officials, staff and spectators - must always come first."

Hockey Australia announced the cancellation of the two national junior championships, including the under-18 tournament which was due to be held in Launceston in April.

Due to the crowded nature of the hockey calendar, together with the timeframe unpredictability around the coronavirus, it was determined there was not a suitable window to reschedule the championships.

Following recommendations from Cricket Australia, Cricket Tasmania abandoned the Premier League season.

It remains in consultation with the league and club presidents to decide final standings and will make a subsequent announcement on who the premiers will be.

Relevant community associations were advised that there was an expectation that they should follow suit with their competitions.

Cricket Australia also cancelled the Sheffield Shield final, declaring ladder leaders New South Wales as champions.

Cricket Tasmania chief executive Dominic Baker said making such big decisions so close to the end of the season was unfortunate but necessary.

"It is disappointing for everyone that we will not contest any further finals but the safety of participants is our number one priority," he said.

In addition to postponing its season, the NTJSA and its clubs agreed to cease all training including club academies and association representative programs.

We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.