Coronavirus: AFL suspends the season

The AFL season has been suspended as league boss calls virus ‘the most serious threat to our game in 100 years’.

Kangaroos players run out into an empty Marvel Stadium on Sunday

With states closing their borders due to the coronavirus crisis, the AFL has suspended its season until May 31.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan made the announcement at a press conference this afternoon, with matches still in progress to complete the opening round.

The AFLW season has been abandoned and no premier will be named after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on Australians to cancel all non-essential travel within the country.

The season will not begin again before June.

The AFL will make an assessment at the end of April as to whether that date is realistic as AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan described it as the greatest challenge the competition has faced.

“To say this is the most serious threat to our game in 100 years is an understatement. It is unprecedented in its impact,” he said.

“I know that everyone involved in our game and our millions of supporters will be impacted by this decision and that many people will suffer significant hardship, as are people across our community.”

McLachlan lamented there were no winners when also announcing there would be no premiership awarded this year for the AFLW season.

A bid to fast-track the season saw the last two rounds abandoned amid a raft of changes last week, but ultimately there was not enough time to decide a premier.

The AFL and clubs will continue to assess the financial measures needed to stay afloat as McLachlan conceded clubs would be pushed to the brink of survival by the crisis.

Already employees at the AFL and also clubs around the country have been either made redundant or placed on leave, but further measures will be taken in coming days.

“It has become very real in the last couple of hours and it is going to be a very real few days … as (club bosses) have honest conversations with staff and with other people,” he said.

“There is a very human part of the business. The economic cost and the livelihood cost is significant as well and we have to say united and work through it.”

The rapidly escalating health crisis and the response from governments around Australia has effectively forced the hands of the AFL executive.

McLachlan held a teleconference with clubs this afternoon as it became increasingly apparent clubs would not be able to travel interstate.

Scott Morrison has advised Australians against all non-essential travel during an address to the nation and warned of the prospect of introducing draconian measures in the near future.

The AFL’s 18-club competition has teams based in five states, with six clubs travelling interstate in the opening round, which will be completed on Sunday with three matches.

McLachlan had stressed that the league needed to be agile and flexible as it sought to play as much football as possible before a shutdown.

South Australian premier Steven Marshall added another significant obstacle to the AFL’s hopes of continuing the season when he announced the state’s borders would be closed, with a 14-day isolation period imposed for non-essential travellers.

Marshall indicated he would not consider AFL games “essential travel”.

Port Adelaide travelled to the Gold Coast for an opening round victory and are due to play Adelaide in the “Showdown” next weekend, which may enable the league some wriggling room in their hopes to finish as many rounds as possible before a closure.

The NRL, which has teams based in three states and the ACT, may accelerate plans to have all their teams in one city as they prepare for state lockdowns.

Officials at Rugby League Central believe they can continue to play games, despite the ban on non-essential travel.

However the only way the NRL could continue under a state lockdown would be if all the teams were located in one state.

NSW seems the likely option given 11 teams are already located in the state, 12 if you include the New Zealand Warriors, who are based at Kingscliff on the NSW far north coast.

Interstate clubs could be relocated to western Sydney, where there is enough accommodation and venues to potentially house the Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys.

The alternative — the complete shutdown of the competition — would come at a hefty cost to the game given they receive $13 million each week from the broadcasters for their eight games.

Morrison suggested state governments could make further announcements on Sunday which would see them go into a form of lock down – a situation that would almost certainly suspend football.

“In terms of the NRL and AFL and those types of arrangements, well I think the principle is important but I’m sure we can work with both of those agencies and their respective states and chief medical officers at federal level,” Morrison said.

“If there are new arrangements that need to be put in place there to protect the health and safety of everyone – well that may be possible so I’m not going to pre-empt those outcomes but I’m sure we can work those issues through on a practical case-by-case basis.”