South Australia will not permit Victorian AFL teams to hub in Adelaide due to the risk of them bringing COVID-19 into the state
Health Minister Stephen Wade has shut the door on an AFL hub in South Australia this year, declaring public health “has to come first”.
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Health Minister Stephen Wade says the AFL will have to plan around SA to keep its season going.
The AFL is set to announce a revamped Round 6 fixture on Friday after decisions by the Queensland, NSW and SA Governments to either put new restrictions on Victorians and Victorian teams – or scrap planned lifting of them – put the 2020 season in crisis.
“We were planning to lift the border restrictions, recent circumstances means we won’t get there. We will open the borders when it is safe to do so,” Mr Wade said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“There won’t be a hub in South Australia this year.
“We know that’s very disappointing. Australian rules football is a cherished part of South Australian life but public health has to come first.
“We are keen to work with the AFL to explore all options, but in the context of Victoria being the hub of coronavirus infections and the base of majority of AFL teams, South Australia won’t be giving exemptions to the 14 day isolation.”
Cases have exploded in Victoria over the past week, leaving other states across the country wary of allowing Melbournites in.
The 10 Victorian clubs are set to be divided between hubs in NSW, Queensland and WA when they leave the state possibly as early as next week.
Adelaide and Port Adelaide face more games interstate to keep the season going, having entered a Gold Coast hub with West Coast and Fremantle. They will fly back to SA as planned on Sunday.
Crowds of up to 27,000 are allowed back at Adelaide Oval, but there is unlikely to be home games for the Crows and Power in coming weeks despite the revamps.
Crows chairman Rob Chapman was optimistic the club could have a home game in three weeks.
Earlier, SA Premier Steven Marshall said his government was “exploring all options to make sure that we can have an AFL season this year”.
“But we have ruled out several options including Victorians teams coming here, or a South Australian team playing in Victoria and then coming back to our state,” he said.
“There won’t be exemptions to the 14-day isolation at the moment for AFL football.”
It is understood the AFL had put a proposal to SA Health to play games in Adelaide after the two SA clubs entered a Gold Coast hub to resume the season.
But the league was forced to change direction after Queensland, SA and NSW governments came down hard on the prospect of hosting Victorian teams.
Queensland’s decision to not only impose a two-week quarantine period for any Victorian teams entering the state, but also on sides residing on the Gold Coast if they play in another state against a team that has been in Melbourne in the preceding 14 days, has altered the plans for SA.
An SA Health spokeswoman said: “due to ongoing changes in border restrictions and quarantine requirements, discussions are still underway with the AFL regarding any future play in South Australia”.
The Crows and Power will still be able to return to SA from their Gold Coast hub as planned after their games this weekend.
They are still waiting to find out who will they play next week as the AFL works out a new fixture.
The Crows could carry on with their scheduled clash against West Coast in Queensland, but the Power’s GWS match has been caught up in Queensland’s new regulations on teams from Melbourne as the Giants take on Hawthorn this weekend.
Victorian clubs are expected to leave the state as early as the start of next week.
Collingwood and Geelong are bound for WA, and could be joined by another Melbourne club while the rest of the competition’s teams will be split between NSW and Queensland.
SA has open borders with Queensland, and NSW could follow as early as Friday, giving the AFL some flexibility.
But Health Minister Stephen Wade indicated it would be tough to even fly Victorian teams from those states into Adelaide without having to undergo 14 days of quarantine.
“SA Health is always open to applications for exemptions and to consider them on their merits,” he said.
“The origins of the teams are relevant (to any application for an exemption).”
The prospect of more games out of Adelaide did not faze Power vice-captain Ollie Wines when asked on Thursday.
“Wherever we have to go and play we are happy to do it,” he said.
SA WON’T BACK DOWN FROM TOUGH BORDER STANCE
South Australia’s top cop has flagged further difficulties for the AFL to keep the 2020 season alive, saying he doesn’t expect clubs to get any exemptions from the state’s tough border restrictions.
As the AFL looks to get teams out of Melbourne quickly to solve its fixture fiasco after another state slapped restrictions on Victoria, SA’s Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said if they were trying to get them to Adelaide any time soon they would have to quarantine.
“It is too early for me to speculate on what may be coming out of the AFL, but the position is any traveller that is not an essential traveller coming from NSW, ACT or Victoria will be required to quarantine for 14 days,” he said.
“At this point in time I would suggest that professional sports people are not essential travellers.”
Adelaide and Port Adelaide are still waiting on the AFL to tell them who they will face in revamped Rounds 6 and 7, after Queensland, SA and now NSW increased their restrictions against Victorian travellers following the Melbourne COVID-19 spike.
The Crows and Power will still press on with their plan to fly back to SA from their Gold Coast hub on Sunday.
But whether they return to Queensland, or go to another state such as NSW to play their next batch of games is still up in the air as the AFL and SA Health continue discussions.
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Following the decision by the SA Government on Tuesday to scrap a planned July 20 reopening of the Victorian border the Crows and Power heads of football both said they hoped they could get games back in Adelaide - where crowds of up to 27,000 can attend games at the Oval.
A potential reopening of the NSW and ACT borders by the committee as soon as Friday could give the AFL some respite when it comes to the Crows and Power but it still faces a complex problem to solve to keep the season going.
Inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes said the AFL could make it work and Adelaide should definitely be looked at as a location where Melbourne teams are sent to.
“As long as the players coming in are COVID-19 free and are completely isolated I can’t see any reason why we can’t let them in,” he said.
“It is absolutely essential that some Melbourne teams come to Adelaide, go to Perth and Sydney and maybe even a neutral venue like Canberra.
“It is not impossible put it that way, difficult but not impossible.”
Port Adelaide’s Round 6 match scheduled to be against GWS at Metricon Stadium will at least need to be moved from the Gold Coast as Queensland’s newly implemented restrictions would mean the Giants would have to quarantine upon their arrival in the Sunshine State as they play Hawthorn this weekend.
Adelaide’s Round 6 match against West Coast isn’t technically impacted by the restrictions but the Crows are also expecting changes.
This is because the two SA clubs would have only two non-Victorian sides to play after this weekend, in a season in which the AFL have said each team will play each other once.
After Tuesday’s announcement SA Premier Steven Marshall spoke to AFL chief Gillon McLachlan.
“We are working together to ensure that we can have an AFL season this year,” he said.
“We have stressed to the AFL that we will not be compromising our border security.”
The Northern Territory is an option to send teams while Collingwood and Geelong are set to fly to WA after Round 6 and play each other and West Coast and Fremantle in Perth.
A Round 6 fixture is expected by Friday.
SEASON IN DISARRAY AS SA BORDERS REMAIN SHUT
The AFL is scrambling to keep the season alive as rival states pull down the shutters on Victoria and its deepening COVID-19 crisis.
This weekend’s fixture has been dramatically reshaped after the Queensland Government banned all contact with Melbourne clubs unless they have served a 14-day quarantine stint.
They were on Tuesday joined by the South Australian government, who will keep its borders closed to Victoria amid its worsening COVID-19 tally.
Both SA clubs were due to play their round 7 games at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on July 18 and 19 with the borders between the states originally set to re-open on July 20.
The news means that if the AFL presses ahead with playing Adelaide and Port Adelaide games in Melbourne, both clubs will be forced to quarantine for 14 days on their return to SA.
On Monday, Crows chief executive office Andrew Fagan said the club was already preparing contingencies for changes to their fixture.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE NEW ROUND 5 FIXTURE
“We are clearly in uncharted territory and not just as an industry, but as a society,” he said.
“The health of all Australians is the priority and we will continue to listen to the advice of governments and medical experts, plan for contingencies and be flexible if and when things change.”
Port Adelaide and the Crows have played their past two games inside the Queensland hub and are due to return to SA after round five this weekend, before flying back to the Gold Coast for round six.
SA Premier Steven Marshall said “we know this will have a dramatic effect on the AFL”.
“Any teams coming in from Victoria to South Australia will have to do two weeks of isolation,” he said.
“Any South Australian team that is coming back from Victoria or goes to Victoria to play a team (there) will have to do that two weeks of isolation on return to our state.”
This week’s West Coast vs Richmond clash at Metricon Stadium was postponed after Victoria recorded another spike of more than 70 coronavirus cases on Monday.
The Tigers were due to meet the Eagles on the Gold Coast on Thursday night, but Queensland border closures have forced a radical revamp of the Round 5 fixture.
It is the second game delayed since this month’s season restart. Last weekend’s Essendon vs Melbourne clash was put off until later in the season after Bombers defender Conor McKenna tested positive to COVID-19.
The AFL has moved quickly on Monday to alter the fixture and reschedule its Round 5 games to keep the season rolling.
The struggling Tigers will now play Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
The Carlton vs St Kilda clash scheduled for the MCG on Saturday has been shifted to Marvel Stadium on Thursday night and West Coast will instead play Sydney at Metricon Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Swans were originally due to play Melbourne at the SCG on Sunday. It is the second time in three weeks the Demons’ fixture has been altered due to the COVID crisis.
The AFL was made aware last Friday of the tough new Queensland rules, but believes the fixture is flexible enough to keep the season alive. League boss Gillon McLachlan said on Monday the rolling fixture could be revisited ‘daily’ and added hubs remained an option in all states and territories.
The Gold Coast Suns will still travel to Geelong to play the Cats on Saturday in a twilight fixture for Gary Ablett’s 350th game.
The AFL is considering then sending the in-form Suns to New South Wales to play the Giants and Swans in Rounds 6 and 7.
They would play the Cats on Saturday and then go to Sydney for a fortnight on the way home to Queensland.
That way Gold Coast would not have to quarantine for 14 days in Queensland after playing Geelong.
McLachlan said the AFL and the club were still working through how the Suns could travel back to Queensland while observing the state’s strict quarantine rules.
The Suns are due to play Hawthorn at the MCG in Round 6.
Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young wrote to the major sporting codes outlining tough new rules to “protect Queenslanders” that include:
— any Queensland or Queensland-based team that plays a Melbourne team in Queensland is required to quarantine after the match for 14 days
— any Queensland or Queensland-based team that plays in Melbourne is required to quarantine for 14 days after returning to Queensland
— any Queensland or Queensland-based team that plays in another state against a team that has been in Melbourne in the previous 14 days is required to quarantine on their return to Queensland.
There is also a renewed prospect of a hub being set up in NSW, with the Queensland Government’s hard line stance on Victorian teams set to turn the competition on its head.
It shapes as a huge blow to the Swans who were going to become the first Australian sporting club to welcome back 10,000 people this Sunday in Sydney.
It’s understood the NSW Government remains supportive of Victorian AFL teams flying into Sydney, meaning the GWS clash against Hawthorn on Sunday will go ahead as scheduled.
However, Queensland’s strict stance on Victoria’s COVID-19 crisis could force the AFL to make NSW a new hub for out-of-state teams.
There were proposals put forward at the start of the season for Sydney Olympic Park to host AFL teams if the competition deemed it necessary to go into a hub system.
The AFL have done their best to avoid that scenario, but may now be forced to relocate Queensland clubs, and possibly clubs from other States into a new hub – with NSW a prime candidate.
It can also be revealed the AFL faces a fresh fixture dilemma in South Australia.
The Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide are scheduled to play matches in Melbourne in Round 7.
SA Health Minister Stephen Wade said his Government was “actively considering” how the state could be protected from Victoria’s COVID-19 outbreak.
“We remain concerned about the developments in Victoria and are closely monitoring the situation,” Mr Wade said.
“We will not open our borders until it is safe to do so, and are actively considering how South Australians can be protected from Victorian ‘hot spots’.”
SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said there was “no firm recommitment” to reopening the border to Victoria on July 20.
“At this point in time with the South Australian teams being accommodated in Queensland it’s not an issue for us,” he said.
“Their requirement to travel between Queensland and Victoria is a matter for the Victorian government.
“If the South Australian-based AFL teams intend to return to South Australia we will have a look at what the circumstances are at that time in relation to what obligations they may face in returning to South Australia.”
AFL: ‘DAILY’ CHANGES COULD BE NEEDED TO FIXTURE
The AFL’s rolling fixture could be revisited “daily” according to league boss Gillon McLachlan who says all states and territories remain an option for hubs.
As Victoria’s coronavirus case count skyrocketed to 75 new active cases on Monday and Queensland upped its restrictions on its sporting teams, questions have been raised about how the competition could look in coming weeks and months.
But McLachlan remains committed to seeing the season through, albeit potentially with short notice of when games could be played.
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“Clearly, (all teams) will abide by the restrictions. The implications are being worked through at the moment,” he said of the new protocols.
“We’ve got a fixture for this weekend. And we’ll look ahead. The rolling fixture might be sort of daily.”
The Queensland hub is set to draw to a close with a WA hub to begin ahead of Round 7.
But the league chief said that while there is both time and flexibility on the competition’s side, every option remained on the table.
“We have got 118 games to get away,” he said.
“We can compress, we can move, we can — if we need to — have a bye to reset. As we look ahead, I don’t think we need to do that, but we’ve got options. That’s what this is about.
“We had a great run across the country, we’re having a tougher period in Victoria at the moment.”
He said there was communication occurring with the players’ association in relation to the potential for further hubs.
“People understand that there’s going to be sacrifices made to get this season away,” he said.
“The restrictions in hubs are getting less and less in other states, so we can be a bit more flexible with it.
“All states and territories are an option, absolutely.”
Gold Coast is set to travel to Geelong this weekend with how they can serve the new mandated 14-day quarantine period in Queensland currently being explored.
“The Suns will have to do that,” McLachlan said.
“We’re working through how that will be.
“They might not go back to Queensland. They might go other routes. That clearly will be adhered to and we’ll have advice on that in coming days about how they traverse back to Queensland – whether they did go back into quarantine or they went a different way.”
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Originally published as South Australia will not permit Victorian AFL teams to hub in Adelaide due to the risk of them bringing COVID-19 into the state
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