The A-League is forging ahead with games around Australia after confirming a November 19 season start
Despite the ongoing impacts of border restrictions around Australia on travel and sport, the A-League has made some bold calls for its new season.
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The A-League has backed border restrictions to ease and fixtured games in all five states, including Covid-riddled Victoria and NSW, for a revised season start date of November 19.
After two false starts due to the impact of Covid-19 shutdowns around the country, reigning champions Melbourne City will kick off the new season against Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park.
Matches are fixtured for Melbourne, Geelong and Sydney in the opening round, despite both Victoria and NSW still battling large daily Covid-positive case numbers.
Victoria set a new record on Thursday with 766 Covid-19 cases, the largest single daily number in the state’s history.
A Boxing Day derby at AAMI Park between Melbourne Victory and Western United is also part of the schedule.
Club and league officials remain “in regular contact” with AAMI Park and the Victorian Government regarding crowd capacity, with no clarity yet on how many fans will be able to attend games.
Western United, without a home ground yet built, will play two home games at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne.
Despite locking in a start date, however, fixtures have only been confirmed for the first six rounds of the new season, taking games to December 27. The Grand Final is set for May 28, 2022.
Leagues Commissioner, Greg O’Rourke, was confident the national Covid landscape would change in time to accommodate crowds around the country.
“Our decision-making has as much as possible been anchored in the Federal Government’s four-stage roll-out for opening up, with increasing numbers of restrictions being relaxed as we hit 70% fully vaccinated, 80% and so on,” he said.
“That’s all publicly laid out, and we also have worked with our own contacts in various governments, and with the stadiums which are all own owned by the governments.
“The dates we chose to start the seasons were driven by vaccination progress – by the time we kick off, most of the states should have 80% double vaccination rates or be very close, which on the basis of the national plan should see crowds start to return, borders become navigable and quarantine requirements mitigated.
“Of course we have contingency plans to deal with changing circumstances. But as things stand, having six teams based in NSW means they can play each other and so we can be confident that those games will go ahead.
Games will be played around Australia including at Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide despite continued border restrictions.
The first six rounds will be based on conference systems, with the five NSW-based clubs and the Wellington Phoenix in one half of the split, and the majority of the other games played in Victoria.
O’Rourke said vaccination rates around the country were a “safety net” the A-League didn’t have last season.
“Putting players in hubs, or having to quarantine, has implications for player welfare and we’ve been able to minimise that based on the state governments’ various positions on reopening,” he said.
“Last season there were no vaccines and no safety net, and we staged a really successful season so as the country learns to live with COVID-19, I’m confident we will be able to do the same again.”
Both the federal and state governments’ national Covid-19 transition plan should help open borders, although West Australian premier Mark McGowan has suggested his state could remain shut until 2022.
The expanded W-League will also commence on December 3, with this season featuring the inaugural Club Championship, a trophy awarded to the clubs with the most success across both the men’s and women’s leagues.
Sydney FC coach Steve Corica was rubbing his hands together at the prospect of an opening round derby against the Western Sydney Wanderers, and believes it will be a good way to get fans involved from the get-go.
“A big derby as the first one is a hugely important game to start the season,” Corica said.
“It’s a massive game, and it’s something we will all be looking forward to, from the players to the members.”
A-LEAGUE ROUND 1
Friday, 19 November – Melbourne City v Brisbane Roar, AAMI Park
Saturday, 20 November – Western Sydney Wanderers v Sydney FC, CommBank Stadium
Saturday, 20 November – Western United v Melbourne Victory, GMHBA Stadium, 7:45PM
Saturday, 20 November – Perth Glory v Adelaide United, HBF Park
Sunday, 21 November – Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners, McDonald Jones Stadium
Sunday, 21 November – Macarthur FC v Wellington Phoenix, Campbelltown Stadium
Originally published as The A-League is forging ahead with games around Australia after confirming a November 19 season start
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