Professional sporting clubs right around Australia are waiting patiently to learn exactly what their responsibilities will be when it comes to vaccination and future entry into other states.
For the A-League, such information is vital on the eve of a new season and with more than half of the overall Australian population still to be immunised twice.
When formal confirmation is eventually received as to exactly what those interstate vaccination expectations will be, the new guidelines will have a significant impact on professional teams’ fluidity of movement around the country, as well as an individual athlete’s right to participate in professional sport at all.
For sports currently in the final weeks of their seasons and those soon to enter recess, time will be available for not only the players to consider their personal health choices, but also for the administrative arms to formulate policies and procedures that ensure all players are either a) vaccinated and unconditionally permitted to travel or b) otherwise legally entitled to enter other jurisdictions via some, exemption, condition or, dare I say, loophole.
Quite frankly, the most likely outcome for athletes competing in sports that require interstate travel will almost certainly be a double dose of a COVID-19 vaccination. Should anything else permit entry, such as the sort of exemptions granted to over paid footballers and their families over the last 12 months, public sentiment could well reach an unprecedented level of disgust.
While most Australians understood the efforts made to keep sports up and running during the extended lockdown periods that have frustrated and strained people across much of the east coast of Australia, once borders come down, the same double standard cannot apply.
In a reopened economy, the simple ‘pub test’ will become the measure. If a citizen is not permitted to travel interstate without a double dose of vaccination, why on earth should a professional sportsperson be allowed to do so?
Australians would undoubtedly shout in numbers that after having their vaccinations in order to travel, see families and return to something near normal life, any sportsperson hoping to move fluidly around the nation and earn their wage while playing the sport they love should be forced to do exactly the same.
In short, the sentiment will be, “We’ve received the vaccine, as should you.” The argument from mainstream Australia will simply be that the athletes who refuse to vaccinate should stay at home and potentially see their contracts torn to shreds for failing to comply with the expectations set out for the vast majority of Australians.
However, the reality is that there will be a portion of A-League players unwilling to accept the vaccine and thus present a difficult and convoluted situation for the powers at be when the borders do indeed open and our competition again demands interstate travel.
It’s looking like A-League fans will need to be vaccinated to attend matches, but what about players? (Photo by Nigel Owen/Action Plus via Getty Images)
At least one significant A-League star has been outspoken and consistent in his anti-vaccination views via social media. Everyone has seen his commentary yet no one is quite sure where that leaves him when the league begins and he is required to board a flight to another state that, depending on the jurisdiction, may not permit him to enter the region.
The Northern Territory has been explicit in its intention to deny access to any person attempting to enter the state without two vaccinations. Other states are expected to follow that lead and formalise such a requirement as economies begin to reopen next month.
That sets up a frightfully awkward scenario for the A-League, where in the coming months, non-vaccinated players may well be denied entry to certain states and the legality of such enforcements a dream for the litigiously minded.
Can states demand that anyone crossing their border be vaccinated, let alone enforce such in the High Court? If not, does a serious human rights issue come to bear for those with an objection to taking the jab?
And most importantly for the A-League, can the career of a professional sportsperson be compromised based on the rules and regulations implemented by a state jurisdiction without the over-arching approval and support of the High Court?
The answers to all of the above appear well beyond me and probably most of the people reading this. However, Hamilton will re-open in Sydney on October 19th, suggesting strongly that crowds in outdoor venues will also be permitted around the same time and the A-League season clear to begin with fans in stadiums soon after.
Vaccinated fans will be keen to attend, yet the question around the participation of un-vaccinated players remains a compelling one.
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
This challenge should definitely happen for the sake of our future freedoms!!!
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
A n interesting post with much food for though. There are 2 points that should be noted though.firstly this is the first time to my knowledge that people are being refused access to other states and public transport.this is pretty heavy stuff and a definite threat to our personal freedom.The other point I would make is that this pandemic has shown the folly the amount of power the states have to wreck any chance of a concerted effort to get us through this threat to not only our health,but also our mental and economic welfare!The federal government should have the power to override the parochial ambitions of the states for the good of the nation as a whole!!!
RogerBroughton
Roar Rookie
Carlson's a 'moron' because he didn't swallow the same fairy stories as you. This place is like the bloody Guardian. And yeah, I know what I can do.
Saffi
Roar Rookie
I agree with the writers who highlighted that it may be your right not to get vaccinated but it is also the employer’s right to maintain a safe work environment and to keep their business competitive and workable. So, If it is Troisi who’s an objector (which wouldn’t surprise me, he always seemed a whiner and self centred) then he should join an NPL team and let someone else have a professional contract. Equally, spectators will need a vaccine green pass to attend games to avoid further spread. Just makes sense. We need the League to announce this stuff soon so everyone gets time to get fully vacced (or not).
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
As we sit here, it's still very hard to picture how we might navigate this early part of the season. At a minimum, the Glory and AU, perhaps even the Roar will present a challenge (current requirement that must quarantine for 14 days to get into Perth and Adelaide, likely to remain for a while yet). In the Perth paper today: Sage says that APL offered Perth Glory an option to spend 3-4 months in Victoria or NSW for the start of the new season, which he rejected. He has sent a "harsh" email to the APL, asking to support spending money on family relocation. Sage: “I had a $4.2 million loss last year and we’re looking at a massive loss again this year. You cant squeeze blood out of a stone." “If you are spending a million dollars on Wellington surely you can spend some on Perth and get some of our families over that really need it.”
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I thought I read somewhere that they are working towards two hubs. One in NSW, with addition of the Nix, makes 6 teams, and one in Mebourne, with the the 3 Melbourne teams joined by Glory, AU and Roar.
GrasssRoots Greg
Roar Rookie
This week has seen two NBL players release from their contracts because of their vaccination status and their resultant inability to traverse state borders. If the league is not granted the same rights as both the NRL & AFL and players are unable to travel, then I have no doubt that clubs will be hesitant to keep them n the books. Travel is part and parcel of the sporting landscape and if a third of your season will be curtailed because of a stance against vaccinations it will be an interesting face off. Does a club simply stand a player down for those games and carry the cost, or do they release them. Interesting times indeed.
matth
Roar Guru
Well luckily it is looking like they will be a relatively small minority.
chris
Guest
Matt can you imagine the anger thats going to rip through our society? When the un-vaxxed are flooding the hospitals demanding to be treated and others are bumped because of them?
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
What I said was factually correct. Crystal Palace first five PREMIER LEAGUE games were in London too. The issue you are taking exception to is simply the trials and tribulations of sport.
matth
Roar Guru
So what rules would you have changed when the Delta variant let rip and what rules would you change now. And, like governments, you need to decide how many additional deaths you are willing to accept. And those deaths would not just be from COVID, but from a collapsing hospital system being unable to treat other patients. Those deaths have to be balanced against the very significant and very real negative effect of lockdowns. It’s not an easy balance. And then you have to ask yourself the same question if the deaths are people you know.
matth
Roar Guru
Very true. the problem however are those who refuse to even go to a GP to have this explained to them.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Just quote me exactly where I said "throw blokes out of sport."
Beni Iniesta
Guest
And yet in many US States Marijuana is legal and testing positive has no legal consequence and yet you want to throw these blokes out of sport for having a puff!
Beni
Guest
It's quite easy. You have the NSW/Victoria teams playing each other on one side (8 clubs) and the SA/QLD/WA/NZ teams playing each other on the the other side (4 clubs). And then when you run out of games for the other 4 clubs - they have to go and hub in NSW/Victoria from that point forward until borders open - sometime in 2022.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Jets are a charity case of a club, not enough sponsorship in the area to support an A-league team, the three previous owners are gone because they keep losing money, now being supported and propped up by other clubs in the league. Can you please explain how much money your getting from Adelaide that you happily jump into bed at every opportunity with mr Sydney ECB conspiracy. Your effectively owned by Sydney FC, Wanderers, and Western United. Thats the amazing thing the amount of people slagging off Western United on here when they are one of the three white knights in the A-league.
chris
Guest
Good to hear you and others on here are holding their ground. These fools that think they can work the system. They can refuse the jab but they need to stay away from those that are vaxxed.
Daffyd
Roar Rookie
In the US, if you want to go overseas you may need to be fully vaccinated and have a PCR test with 48 hours of departure and carry proof of both upon arrival at the airport. They will need to be hard copy or you will be turned away at check-in. In some places of the world you will have a PCR test on arrival and be required to self-isolate until the results come through. To put it into perspective, if you travelled to Thailand having a recent stayed in Africa, then you need to have a Yellow Fever vax to get through immigration. Vaccination requirements to travel are not unprecedented.
Daffyd
Roar Rookie
Agreed.. choose not to wear a mask or get vaccinated, and you get COVID, then the cost of COVID treatment is not covered by Medicare or Private Cover.
Daffyd
Roar Rookie
Chopper, What you are saying is not quite true. I don't agree that governments are manipulating people to the extent that you suggest. They are working with health professionals and the evidence at the time (which is evolving) to try to produce the best outcome at the time. This sometimes means changing tacks. They are not doing "it on the run." It has been shown that lockdown stop the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, a virus mutates, especially a novel one, and now we have found that Delta is far more contagious than the initial virus. We are not in the same game anymore, but people don't comprehend that. Lets hope it doesn't mutate again and invert from 1% to 99% lethality. The longer we take to get vaccinated, the more chance of something mutating and the circumstances changing. Maybe for the better, where it is just like a cold-- or worse where 99% of people die or get Long Covid that last years. I believe that the manipulation you speak of is being done by people who seek to gain by politically and financially from creating mayhem. Starters would be Donald Trump and the Republican magats. Fox News and the right wing liars are also in that mix, spreading all sorts of lies about the vaccine and treatments -- and their lies are infecting the rest of the world under the guise of 'freedom'. Who do you believe Fauci or Trump? The Oz Health Department doctors or the right wing media & website goosesteppers? If Oz had gone done the path of open slather by giving people the 'freedom' to do what they want, as you suggest, we simply would not have coped. If you talk about freedom then you must realize with freedom comes responsibility. Living in a society means you also work for the greater good. In essence, if you don't have an underlying reason to not have a vaccine then you have it -- for the greater good. We can stamp out COVID like smallpox, - if we all pull together That is if you really want to get back to all those freedoms you are talking about.