A regional Victorian football and netball club, and a Bendigo sports consultant, are encouraging players, officials, and volunteers to get vaccinated.
Stuart Craig from Sports Focus hopes the The Vaccination Games campaign will help put an end to interrupted seasons.
"When they do recruitment for next season, if we take football, netball, then one of the questions they might be asking is 'are you double vaccinated?' Because they need to protect their local community," he said.
Mr Craig said the support of clubs would be crucial.
"One of the things we've always preached is that the local sporting club is the centre of the town," he said.
The Vaccination Games
The small town of Pyramid Hill between Boort and Echuca is home to about 500 people.
The 2016 census revealed around 45 per cent of its population were over 50 years of age.
The Pyramid Hill Football Netball Club carries the motto "Be part of the game, the community, and the success", and its president Bruce Moon said the younger generation is lagging in getting a vaccinated.
"A lot are trying Bendigo. My son rang Bendigo and [they] said 'can he find somewhere closer? Bendigo is 55 minutes from Pyramid, but there are opportunities at Boort and Cohuna'," he said.
The Vaccination Games campaign will start by scoping out the best way to get the attention of country Victorians.
Early suggestions include a scorecard that pits town versus town, sport versus sport, or pitting local government areas against one another.
Sports Focus is now mobilising its contacts across sport, government, and media to get the message out to players and clubs.
The vaccination targets Australia needs to hit are 80 per cent of a double dose.
Victoria is aiming to have 70 per cent with a first dose by September 23.
The Victorian government has flagged a trial of vaccination passports in regional Victoria that would prevent unvaccinated people from visiting hospitality venues.
"It's definitely got merit and worth keeping in the back of their minds."
