PCYC NSW regrets to announce that our popular Nations of Origin tournament has been cancelled for 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Nations of Origin is PCYC NSW at its life changing best – a cultural reconciliation, education, leadership and sporting program that brings together nearly 1,500 young people from all around New South Wales. These young people represent their families, communities, and Indigenous nations with pride, in Rugby League, Football 5s, Netball, Basketball and, planned for the first time in 2021, Gymnastics.
The PCYC Nations of Origin program requires behavioural and school attendance standards, and culminates in the multi sports tournament, traditionally held around NAIDOC Week. In 2018, nearly 1,200 young people participated. In 2019 nearly 1,400 (150 teams) attended.
2020 was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and PCYC had worked extremely hard with a wide range of stakeholders to hold the event in June of 2021. Unfortunately, it had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid, with subsequent planning undertaken to stage the tournament in September 2021. Many young people had worked extremely hard to achieve this goal, and we are very proud of their efforts.
However, once again, Covid has thwarted our plans and we must now announce that, due to the current outbreaks around the state, we cannot safely hold Nations of Origin in 2021.
A core foundation of PCYC is being a safe place for our young people. The health and safety of participants, staff, volunteers and their respective communities is paramount.
PCYC has been resilient through nearly 85 years and we are absolutely committed to running a fantastic Nations of Origin in 2022. We know our funders and supporters will stand by us in these challenging times and we thank the Federal Government, Snowy Hydro Limited and Red Energy for their unwavering support.
We look forward to working with all stakeholders, funders, supporters and sponsors, and of course with the young Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of these lands on which we live, as we commence planning Nations of Origin, bigger and better, and back, in 2022.
Media enquiries
Please contact PCYC NSW Media and Public Relations Manager on 0490 127 802 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For information about the Nations of Origins tournament, please contact Youth Strategy & Programs Manager Justine Russell on 0407 212 551 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
