Fresh doubts have been cast on the opening round of the AFL premiership season after the cancellation of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix due to coronavirus fears.
AFL officials are working through their options – including playing in empty stadiums or delaying round one – with an announcement expected on Friday.
In an escalation in the fight against the spread of the virus, Cricket Australia also announced on Friday morning that fans would be locked out of Australia’s three-match men’s ODI series against New Zealand.
Maxy
Roar Rookie
agree kane, with the tv rights thing can see this season turning into a mickey mouse competion,all about money,
Kane
Roar Rookie
I agree with you Pat but Gill mentioned TV rights today so it’s not going to happen. As per normal he’s putting money before anything else. Christ, if the NBA can cancel games then surely the AFL can. He’s too gutless
Pat
Guest
The AFL should move ahead of the game and delay the start of the season by 2 months. That would reduce the possibility of enduring the same on-again off-again farce that occurred with our F1. Each team could then play their opponents once (17 rounds) followed by a shortened elimination only finals series. Depending on the situation in two months time the first 4 rounds (or more) could be played with zero crowd attendance to further eliminate the risk of infection. Any imbalance caused by home or away games could be further addressed by playing in neutral territory as much as possible.
Brian
Guest
Except Europe, US, Korea are all delaying things with summer coming. I hope we are not stupidly delaying and then it peaks in our winter.
hayboy
Roar Rookie
Well this sucks. Unfortunately the reality is thousands of Australians will likely die from the virus, the peak of it is not expected until August. We need to reduce the rate it spreads so the healthcare system will cope better. Italy went from 3 infections to over 15,000 in a few weeks. They're saying tonights Perth v Sydney NBL final will be played in an empty RAC Arena if at all.
Neil from Warrandyte
Roar Rookie
AFL is a contact sport. If a player, yet to show signs of being infected, plays and infects a number of others around him, the AFL will have no choice but to suspend or cancel the season. I hope it doesn’t come to this, but with the spread around the general community, I think it’s unfortunately inevitable.
Franko
Guest
The games should be played but behind closed doors.
Brian
Guest
I hope the AFL are pretty cautious here. Its not just about the potential spread of the virus at games but also about the limited public health and security resources that could be better utilised elsewhere.