Port Adelaide going full steam ahead with China plans despite postponement of Chinese Grand Prix
“Despite the change to the Formula One schedule, we are still planning to play St Kilda in Shanghai on May 31,’’ says Port Adelaide football general manager Chris Davies.
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Port Adelaide is refusing to jump at shadows and still planning to play its round 11 match against St Kilda in China.
While the May 31 clash at Jiangwan Stadium looks increasingly unlikely to go ahead following the postponement of the Chinese Grand Prix because of the coronavirus outbreak, Power football general manager Chris Davies said his club was going full steam ahead with plans to play in China.
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“The cancellation of the Shanghai Formula One Grand Prix has no impact on the decision-making process from a football operations perspective,’’ Davies told The Advertiser.
“As I have said previously, the club’s number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our players, staff and travelling supporters and we won’t take any risks.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely, taking into account the best advice from the Australian Government, relevant authorities and the AFL.
“Despite the change to the Formula One schedule, we are still planning to play St Kilda in Shanghai on May 31.
“No deadline has been set on when a final decision will be made, as the situation continues to change daily.
“With more than three months until the game is scheduled to take place, we won’t rush the decision unnecessarily.”
Davies response comes after the AFL was put under more pressure to cancel the China experiment and move the game back to Australia after the Chinese Grand Prix – scheduled for April 17-19 – was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak which has swept the country.
Shanghai sporting chiefs have urged sporting bodies to “suspend events until the threat is over”.
Leading Australian sports medico Dr Peter Larkins has joined the growing chorus of people to call on the AFL to scrap this year’s China game, saying playing under the threat of coronavirus was “untenable’’
“At the moment there is really an unknown thing going on with this coronavirus,’’ he told Channel 9.
“We know it’s so aggressive, we know it’s a killer virus and the worst thing for an athlete is illness, not injury.
“To put a whole team at risk of a virus where there is no treatment and it spreads heavily from a contagious point of view is a risk that most clubs would not want to take.’’
The PGA Tour Series-China has postponed four tournaments and two qualifying events because of concerns over the spread of the virus while the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, scheduled for April 3-6, is set to be postponed until October.
The cancellation of the Formula 1 race was the first time a race has been called off since political unrest led to the cancellation of the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Power coach Ken Hinkley said he and his players would trust the league and two clubs, Port and St Kilda, to make the right stay-or-go decision with the understanding they would take a ‘no health risk’’ policy with the game.
“We let the China stuff take care of itself by the people who are managing it and they are doing a great job, Chris Davies and Keith Thomas (Port chief executive) will take care of that,’’ he said.
“We trust the people making the decisions are going to make the right decisions.’’
A decision on where the match will be played is likely to be made before the start of the 2020 AFL premiership season on March 19, with commercial deals around the fixture a major sticking point.
A replacement game would likely be played at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in round 11.
Port key forward Charlie Dixon said the players were planning to play in China but understood the game could be relocated to Australia.
“We really enjoy the China trip, it breaks the year up fairly well, but we’ve got to do what’s best for everyone in this situation,’’ he said.
“At the moment we plan on going but it’s kind of a big deal with what’s going on all over the world (with the virus), so we just don't know.’’
Originally published as Port Adelaide going full steam ahead with China plans despite postponement of Chinese Grand Prix