A-League’s first casualties to emerge

The first A-League casualties of the COVID-19 crisis could emerge as soon as Thursday.

Sydney FC and the Wanderers play in front of empty stands before the A-League was shut down

The first A-League casualties of the COVID-19 crisis could emerge as soon as Thursday as clubs hope to get breathing space to work through the pandemic’s devastating economic consequences.

Most clubs have put virtually their whole staff on leave and some employees have taken pay cuts, with the league hopeful that the next instalment of broadcast money due at FFA on April 1 will arrive and allow the clubs to pay staff in the middle of the month.

At least one club is contemplating standing down its entire staff immediately, even though officially the A-League will review its suspension on April 22. Realistically all sports are preparing for a far longer hiatus.

For now, all A-League players are training at home.

The Wanderers have put 85 per cent of their employees on leave immediately, including the coaching staff, and senior managers have agreed to take pay cuts.

Sydney FC have similarly told staff to take annual leave in the interim, with many effectively having nothing to do.

“The No 1 priority is to make sure the club gets through this, but close behind the No 2 priority is the welfare of our employees,” Sydney chief executive Danny Townsend said.

“This is an unprecedented time for everybody, but we want to do everything we can to make sure our staff are able to contribute to the club in the long term.”

Staff at Football Federation Australia received an email promising more news on Thursday or Friday, but all bar a handful of employees have been put on leave. In the email, FFA said it would do everything in its power to avoid redundancies.

Sources anticipate that will involve most being stood down indefinitely, including most of the national teams unit where many of the staff are employed on short-term contracts.

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke said the owners faced some unpleasant choices. “Owners will soon come to a position where they have to talk about the bottom line of their business, but until now it has been all about the health and safety of the players,” he said.

“Some (clubs) are definitely stronger than others. All of them appreciate what they do for their communities and their fan base, and we’re now working through how we keep that bubbling along, in such a way that we also show some respect to the fact that life is just not normal.”

John Didulica, head of the players association, said the clubs had to work in unison with their players to navigate the economic challenges of the next few months.

“My hope is that we can work with (A-League boss) Greg O’Rourke, James Johnson and the clubs to adopt a unified approach across the league to how we’re going to deal with this,” he said.

The Daily Telegraph