After consulting with clubs, the Group 19 executive has announced the 2020 season would not proceed, and it's a decision Armidale Rams president Jess Smith said was understandable.

"It's obviously disappointing, but we understand the decision had to be made," Smith said.

Training had stopped at the Armidale club earlier this year, when the shutdown brought things to a halt in March.

While Smith said the club was impressed with how the players were training at that point, the players had not returned since then, which was making a return to the field this year more difficult, the longer restrictions remained.

"The later it was getting, the harder it was going to be," Smith said.

"We just have a lot of time now to plan for a bigger, better (2021)."

Group 19 president Terry Carson said it was not an easy decision.

"This isn't a decision we have come to lightly, but we believe it was the only decision," Carson said.