Coast Football’s radical restart plan outlined

Sunshine Coast Football will take a leaf out of European competitions and run a league-style format with games until November without finals.

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FOOTBALL: Sunshine Coast Football will take a leaf out of European competitions and run a league-style format with games until November without finals.

Community sports across the state are targeting a return to training but, as things stand, only 20 people are limited to a field at any one point.

Clubs can resume training under those guidelines on June 12, and Sunshine Coast Football president Chris Dunk said all competitions would start on July 10.

Dunk said he believed the 20-player restrictions would relax if the number of coronavirus cases stayed low.

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He said the radical move would allow the code to be played right through to November and ensure value for money was provided to seniors and juniors.

"We have decided to scrap finals and be a bit more like the English and European comps," Dunk said.

"I've always viewed it as the best team at the end of the season wins, so be it.

"Australia has a bit of an obsession with grand finals. But this gets a full season in.

"I know my own grandchildren are raring to go and want to play as much as possible."

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Dunk said the league was looking at options to increase the amount of interchanges but said nothing was in concrete yet.

Clubs would be told to police strict guidelines, such as no use of training rooms plus hygiene measures.

"The good news is that there are no cases on the Coast, so if we keep that up, there's no reason why we can't have a full season," Dunk said.

Sunshine Coast Football had about 6000 juniors and seniors in 2019 and Dunk does not expect that number to diminish.

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