Local footy 2020: AFL Victoria to reveal return-to-play plan
Four of Melbourne’s senior metropolitan leagues are eagerly awaiting further advice from the state body after the Eastern and Northern competitions cancelled their seasons.
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Eastern and Northern might have canned their seasons, but the other metropolitan leagues will wait until June 22 to make their final calls.
Their D-Day coincides with a further easing of State Government COVID-19 restrictions relating to sport and exercise.
But before then the leagues are expecting to receive from AFL Victoria a return-to-play plan.
They have fingers crossed it will name potential starting dates – mid to late July is being widely tipped – and address the issue of crowds being permitted to attend matches.
Southern league chief executive Lee Hartman is convinced there will be an opportunity to play.
“I’m confident there will be a window,’’ Hartman said.
“But it’s just about seeing what it looks like with crowds, the requirements on volunteers to get it up and running and so on.
“But I’m confident there will be an opportunity. Hopefully we can shortly receive a return-to-play date and from there we’ll continue to plan. We’re meeting with our clubs again later in the week. We’re continuing to plan if we get that date or not.’’
The Southern league surveyed its 4700 players and 80 per cent said they were ready to play and 85 per cent said they were prepared to play for nothing.
Hartman said the league was in discussions with the clubs and was “fairly confident the majority will want to play’’.
But Cerberus has pulled out due to Australian Defence Force protocols for the coronavirus pandemic.
The club indicated it would be back next year.
Hartman said Southern would not be influenced by the decision of Eastern and Northern to pull up sticks.
Western Region league boss Matt Duck said his competition’s timelines for making a call about the season were also unaltered by the two other leagues.
He said 22 of 25 the club presidents wanted to see football this year “subject to understanding return-to-play conditions’’.
“Whilst making no judgement whatsoever on the decision of other leagues, had the WRFL made a decision to cancel its senior season today, we would have done so with only 12 per cent club support and based on the same lack of information we had eight weeks ago,’’ Duck said in a message to clubs.
“The strong indication from the AFL is that we will have that information required to make informed decisions within the fortnight, allowing us to complete the measured and collaborative course we all started on in March.
“Whilst ultimately the week beginning June 22 is the ‘drop-dead date’ for announcements, ultimately club desire to pursue the season is a critical component, and if further consultation/surveying this week reveals a shift in club sentiment toward the season, we’ll share that result with you as we did this morning and of course take that response into consideration.’’
The Essendon District league, which has scrapped player payments for 2020, remains keen to continue to explore the possibility of a season.
The league is hoping to clarify any crowd restrictions and health protocols in coming weeks before making a decision.
It is understood about 75 per cent of the EDFL’s 28 senior clubs favour a season going ahead.
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