Coronavirus: could the 2020 AFL season be called off?

[Axe Man]

I note the NBA has just cancelled their season, effective innediately. I guess they also overreacted because there is "jack shit" chance of the virus spreading?

The NBA have suspended the season whilst they work out how to proceed, a bit different to cancelling the season.

[Sedat]

The NBA have suspended the season whilst they work out how to proceed, a bit different to cancelling the season.

Thanks for the correction. Wording duly changed in my previous post.

The decision does show decisive action and leadership being undertaken.

[bornadog]

Not quite sure you understand the concepts of leadership and accountability. China was ths source of the outbreak and Australia acted swiftly and many weeks ahead of the rest of the world in banning travel to and from that country. That is why we have barely over 100 cases and 3 fatalities nationally as of now.

For starters, I am not stupid

Stopping travel to China was a no brainer as there are over 200,000 overseas Chinese students in Australia and the majority like to go home for CNY, any dickhead could have made that decsion.

If we had real leadership, then we would have done the same with Korea, Italy, Iran etc weeks ago, but we didn't.

[bornadog]

Thanks for the correction. Wording duly changed in my previous post.

The decision does show decisive action and leadership being undertaken.

If you want the F1 banned then the medicos have to speak up. Decisions are made by governments after medical advise.

128 confirmed cases in AustraliaBy Melissa Cunningham
Federal health minister Greg Hunt says questions around more travel bans have been put to the national security team by the Prime Minister.

There are 128 confirmed cases in Australia so far, Mr Hunt said.

“We want to add our support to those who are infected and do become infected as it can be a very stressful time,” he said.

“We will continue to follow the advice of medical experts because it’s allowed for us to be ahead of the curve,” he said. “It has allowed us to treat and isolate patients and provide the best possible care.”

As of Tuesday, Victorian Chief Medical officer says F1 should go ahead. Maybe they will cancel last minute.

[Eastdog]

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp....2aa64e36f4f3cd

Confirmed coronavirus case was in attendance at MCG T20 World Cup Final
MARCH 12, 2020 3:18PM

The latest cases of the spread of coronavirus in Victoria have been revealed with one person listed as having attended Sunday’s T20 World Cup Final between Australia and India at the MCG.

A record-breaking crowd for a women’s sporting event in Australia of 86,174 packed into the MCG to watch on as Australia claimed a historic victory in euphoric circumstances.

Six new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Thursday afternoon with one of those cases being listed as having attended the contest.

The state’s Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton said, said the new diagnoses related to men aged between 30 and 70.

Five had recently returned from international travel and the sixth had been in close contact with a confirmed case.

The man was in the MCC Members area on Level 2 of the stadium.


Serious questions have been raised about sporting events taking place in Australia since the pandemic began.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan addressed games potentially taking place in front of empty stadiums


“The safety of our players, staff at clubs, our venues, our supporters and even our own office is paramount, so it is important that we take the advice of those that know best,” McLachlan said.

“That advice to date – like for the rest of the country – is for people to take care of their personal hygiene and to get themselves checked if they feel like they have flu-like symptoms – but also to go about their usual routine whether work, personal lives or sport.

“The Victorian Government has signalled today that it is likely large public gatherings will be impacted at some stage in the future and it is prudent that we are prepared and planned.

“If mass gatherings are suspended then we will play games in stadiums with no crowds.”

[Sedat]

For starters, I am not stupid

Stopping travel to China was a no brainer as there are over 200,000 overseas Chinese students in Australia and the majority like to go home for CNY, any dickhead could have made that decsion.

If we had real leadership, then we would have done the same with Korea, Italy, Iran etc weeks ago, but we didn't.

Your unnecessarily aggressive post contains too much enotionally charged partisan political bias for me to waste any further time continuing to debate this topic with you. Suffice to say, we are at 3 fatalities and 120 odd cases nationally - the facts speak for themselves, and I'm personally very appreciative of the swift action and decisive leadership displayed federally to significantly slow the spread of this virus from the source, well before the WHO and other countries were even awake. I recall we were heavily criticised as being xenophobic by the Chinese govt at the time - those words and views haven't aged well at all in light of subsequent events. But apparently "any dickhead could have made that decision"(your words), except that no other countries and global health organizations did at the time.

I fear the decision by the Vic State Govt to go ahead with the GP puts our outstanding national record thus far in containing the spread of the virus under threat. I am sinply making a judgement on a decision made by our State Govt and I sincerely hope I'm wrong. Your opinion is different, which is entirely your prerogative.

[1eyedog]

You won't be wrong. I read an horrific account of what is transpiring in Northern Italy right now. It comes from a medical professional who has direct contact with medical specialists at the front line. If you're interested here's his twitter post.

https://twitter.com/jasonvanschoor/s...42891077697538

I think we agree the time for containment is over and many believe the fight is lost in terms of community spread. We're now moving to the anticipated large-scale hospitalisations and overrun EDs with only the critical being attended to, as per the Twitter post above. Our numbers would be well under-estimated. The virus is now anywhere and is extremely cunning in that it can transmit without symptoms.

Aside from AFL game cancellations, a concern is growing re. China's numbers. Deaths outside China are far higher than within China itself. Anyway, the time to contain has been lost. The only way to buy serious time was to cancel all international travel at the outset and that was never going to happen. At least we've had this window to scramble some processes together, unlike poor Europe.

[bornadog]

You won't be wrong. I read an horrific account of what is transpiring in Northern Italy right now. It comes from a medical professional who has direct contact with medical specialists at the front line. If you're interested here's his twitter post.

https://twitter.com/jasonvanschoor/s...42891077697538

I think we agree the time for containment is over and many believe the fight is lost in terms of community spread. We're now moving to the anticipated large-scale hospitalisations and overrun EDs with only the critical being attended to, as per the Twitter post above. Our numbers would be well under-estimated. The virus is now anywhere and is extremely cunning in that it can transmit without symptoms.

Aside from AFL game cancellations, a concern is growing re. China's numbers. Deaths outside China are far higher than within China itself. Anyway, the time to contain has been lost. The only way to buy serious time was to cancel all international travel at the outset and that was never going to happen. At least we've had this window to scramble some processes together, unlike poor Europe.

Spot on 1eyedog, you get the point, it's not just the f1, it's more than that, and the Fed Gov should have been more aggressive towards keeping the country free of the virus.

[G-Mo77]

Thanks for the correction. Wording duly changed in my previous post.

The decision does show decisive action and leadership being undertaken.

It is a little different because a player was infected with the virus but it is still the exact same virus.

IMO postponing the season would be a very good idea right now. AFL don't have the balls to do it, Channel 7 will push for this season to run as per normal and it will.

[Twodogs]

Let's just calm down or I will close this thread.

I've NEVER closed a thread on WOOF. You have all been warned.

[jeemak]

Your unnecessarily aggressive post contains too much enotionally charged partisan political bias for me to waste any further time continuing to debate this topic with you. Suffice to say, we are at 3 fatalities and 120 odd cases nationally - the facts speak for themselves, and I'm personally very appreciative of the swift action and decisive leadership displayed federally to significantly slow the spread of this virus from the source, well before the WHO and other countries were even awake. I recall we were heavily criticised as being xenophobic by the Chinese govt at the time - those words and views haven't aged well at all in light of subsequent events. But apparently "any dickhead could have made that decision"(your words), except that no other countries and global health organizations did at the time.

I fear the decision by the Vic State Govt to go ahead with the GP puts our outstanding national record thus far in containing the spread of the virus under threat. I am sinply making a judgement on a decision made by our State Govt and I sincerely hope I'm wrong. Your opinion is different, which is entirely your prerogative.

The good news is you're both kind of right, and both kind of wrong!

The federal government followed the US initially (which it would have done for political purposes) but prior to then the biosecurity act was initiated by Australia's chief health officer's department which meant it was legislated Australia's politicians had to act in accordance with their advice. After the bushfires there was no way Morrison would act against this advice or let it his actions be seen as political.

If Morrison didn't follow the US the relationship with the US is under pressure, and it's more important to us than the China relationship. If Morrison didn't follow the expert advice he's in a bushfire situation all over again, and it would have killed him politically no matter how things panned out.

With Victoria it's a bit tricky. I haven't heard any LNP members lambasting Andrews for not cancelling the Grand Prix. Why? Because it's probably not consistent with the state chief health officers advice (again, it is legislated this is followed). Andrews will get the blame for things next week as things escalate, but it's not his fault the race is going ahead.

[Sedat]

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/formula-...060250301.html

Interesting that the biggest driver in F1 is savaging his employers so publicly. I think Riccardo has also been less than conplimentary.

If I was a betting man I'd expect the early rounds of the AFL season to be played behind closed doors. As others have alluded, there's no way in hell that Ch 7 would let the season be suspended for any length of time, especialy with their multi million dollar investment in the Olympics currently in a parlous state for Tokyo 2020.

[GVGjr]

Sorry, but this fails the sniff test and goes completely against everything that is taking place both in Australia and globally with regard to large gathering sporting and cultural events. Get ready for a sharp rise in cass in Melbourne next week that were "unprecedented" and "unforeseen" lol

Vic State Govt dropped the ball because this is a money spinner for the state and we are already bursting with massive debt on large infrastructure projects that are spiralling way over budget. The Vic State Govt has been an outlier in Australia by actually putting self-interest ahead of the general public's well-being, which no other state and territory govt has done, nor has the federal govt. The GP is a massive international event frequented by huge numbers of tourists from Europe and especially Italy, which happens to be completely in lockdown. It is madness that we are allowing this event to run without any restrictions.

It will be interesting to see if the Government changes the approach a day or so after the GP is completed. Our focus on attracting, promoting and maintaining major sporting events might have superseded what is best for the public

[Bulldog4life]

It will be interesting to see if the Government changes the approach a day or so after the GP is completed. Our focus on attracting, promoting and maintaining major sporting events might have superseded what is best for the public

I saw the Federal Minister for Health on tele tonight saying at this stage the race will go ahead. It is not just the State Govt deciding this.

[bornadog]

"I'm going to the footy this weekend." Scott Morrison says no health advice to cancel events as yet.