Coronavirus: A-League play-offs delayed and AFL teams moved amid wave of inspections
Wednesday 15 July 2020 07:18, UK
The A-League play-offs and Grand Final have been delayed a week, while all 10 Victoria-based AFL teams have been moved following a spike in COVID-19 infections in parts of Australia.
Australia is battling a surge of new cases in Victoria and clusters of infections in Sydney, prompting 10 AFL teams to relocate to Queensland state for up to 10 weeks.
The A-League is also drawing up contingencies to move teams to Queensland if necessary. Three teams based in Melbourne have already relocated to a hub in New South Wales state over the weekend.
The three Melbourne teams are undertaking a mandatory 14-day quarantine period at a hotel in western Sydney, so their first matches after the resumption have been pushed back.
Following a rejig to the schedule, the A-League's regular season, which resumes on Friday after a four-month hiatus, will finish on August 19 with the semi-finals scheduled to start three days later and the Grand Final on August 30.
Melbourne Victory will restart against cross-town rivals Western United on July 25, with Melbourne City to resume against Sydney FC on August 1.
Speaking outside the AFL's headquarters in Melbourne, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said: "We will continue to keep our game alive for fans, for clubs and the jobs. If families and loved ones want to join their partners up in Queensland, we will facilitate this."
The AFL has been announcing its fixtures on a rolling basis due to the fluid COVID-19 situation and had yet to finalise its schedule after the next two rounds, McLachlan added.
