A-League moves to avoid Melbourne embarrassment

The A-League has moved swiftly to avoid a repeat of its Melbourne embarrassment, locking in a potential escape plan to Queensland.

Mitchell Duke smiles at Wanderers training on Tuesday. No players from the Wanderers lives in a designated hot spot Picture: Getty Images

The A-League has moved swiftly to avoid a repeat of its Melbourne embarrassment, locking in a potential escape plan to Queensland should Sydney’s COVID-19 situation escalate.

A week after two doomed attempts to cross the NSW border by its three Melbourne clubs left the league with egg on its face, A-League boss Greg O’Rourke outl­ined the game’s contingency plan amid the pandemic which is creeping up Australia’s east coast.

The current plan is to restart the season with Sydney FC’s clash with Wellington on Friday, and play all but one of the remaining 27 regular season fixtures and then finals in NSW.

However, there remains an option to relocate all 11 A-League teams and have the competition play out in Queensland, a move which could be carried out as soon as this weekend if required.

FFA officials spent Tuesday securing stadiums, accommodation and training facilities in Queensland should Plan B need to be called into action.

“We’ve been speaking to government at many different levels, many different departments about the current restrictions and what they feel the impact would be,” O’Rourke said on Tuesday.

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“At this point in time, knowing that these things can change quite dramatically, our position would be that we’d continue to play all our games here (in NSW) and that we would be able to operate as a workplace and we would continue to do that until we were advised otherwise.”

Sydney is experiencing a worrying COVID-19 spike, with clusters emerging in the city’s southwest and 28 positive cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula. A further 13 positive tests were registered on Tuesday, with O’Rourke acknowledging the potential of the spread intensifying — as was experienced in Melbourne, which led to border closures and three A-League teams being stranded.

A total 77 Sydney suburbs have already been classified as COVID-19 hot spots by the Queensland government, with residents from these areas bann­ed from heading north under strict new border measures. No one from the Western Sydney Wanderers or Sydney FC’s bubble live in the affected suburbs meaning all would be clear to apply for border clearance and cross without a quarantine period upon arrival in Queensland.

But the situation bears alarming similarities to that of Melb­ourne last week, when a handful of postcodes were declared hot spots shortly before a closure of the NSW-Victoria border and a citywide, six-week lockdown.

“These things we’ve seen in other parts of Australia and obviously internationally, when small numbers can become big,” O’Rourke said. “But I need to rely on the Department of Health and others who are qualified about that. At the moment, given what we know, we’re comfortable with Plan A.”

One potential hurdle the A-League could face is Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United all remain in a 14-day quarantine period in Sydney, which will expire on July 25, and would not be able to join a Queensland hub until after that.

“The current restrictions in Queensland for their border would be that people that had not been in a Victorian hot spot for two weeks are allowed,” O’Rourke added. “Victorians coming up to Sydney and quarantining for 14 days satisfy that.”

The tightening of restrictions in NSW this week could spell an end to having crowds, however.

“We’ll have to do whatever the government restrictions at the time are,” O’Rourke said.

“There’s a health order now that’s out which talks to exactly what you can do by stadia — it’s our understanding that they will be reviewed ongoing.”