SYDNEY: Australia’s A-Lea­gue, which was suspended in March because of the coronavirus outbreak, will resume in mid-July providing an agreement can be reached with broadcasters, Football Federation Australia said on Thursday.

The plan for the completion of the last six rounds of the regular season and the championship playoffs follows the easing of social restrictions in Australia with the country having been largely successful in containing Covid-19.

“We are committed to delivering the completion of the A-League 2019-20 season and have agreed a comprehensive plan with the clubs and the (players’ union),” FFA chief executive James Johnson said in a statement.

“Ideally mid-June will see players return to training, allowing them to reach the required elite level of fitness for competitive matches to commence by mid-July, and for the A-League Finals Series to be completed by mid-August.”

Australia’s other major football codes have already announced their resumption, with the National Rugby League recommencing on Thursday, Australian Rules on June 11 and Super Rugby on July 3.

Local media has reported that agreement with broadcaster Fox Sports was the main sticking point in announcing a resumption of the A-League.

“We are now looking forward to the agreement of our broadcast partner to our fixture proposal and timings,” Johnson added.

“That’s the final piece of the jigsaw and once we have it in place we can move forward quickly.”

Johnson declined to guarantee all 11 teams would survive the shutdown when the league was suspended on March 24 and the cash-strapped league can ill-afford to get back underway without television revenue.

With some inter-state travel restrictions still in place, the league, which includes New Zealand’s Wellington Phoenix, will resume in a “hub” format with teams grouped together and playing at selected stadiums without crowds.

Players and staff will be subject to “stringent health and safety protocols”, A-League chief Greg O’Rourke said.

“We have taken the necessary steps ... to agree and implement the appropriate protocols, which include rigorous screening and testing regimes,” he added.

RUGBY LEAGUE RETURNS

With the sound of skin slapping skin and an echoing oomph of air escaping lungs as players collided at pace, the NRL led the charge for elite sports returning to action in Australia.

It was the furthest thing from the strict social distancing regulations that have been the norm in Australia in the coronavirus pandemic.

Parramatta Eels flew in just four hours before kickoff and still beat the Brisbane Broncos 34-6 on Thursday night in an empty Suncorp Stadium, the lack of spectators being a trade-off for the NRL being allowed to resume following a two-month hiatus.

While a TV audience heard artificial crowd noise piped into the broadcast, in real time it was a vastly different experience.

Clear and distinct were on-field exchanges usually drowned out by crowd noise, such as players calling moves and the referee laying down the law.

Precautions to minimise the threat of infection included medics taking player temperatures, with orders to exclude anyone with the slightest hint of fever.

The ball was wiped down with disinfectant every 10 minutes, and coaches were not allowed to prowl the sidelines.

The successful restartgives the NRL a head start over rival codes in Australia’s intensely competitive sporting market.

While the NRL has stolen a march on its competitors, officials needed to overcome numerous hurdles to meet the May 28 restart deadline and limit the sport’s hiatus to nine weeks.

During the shutdown, there were off-field scandals involving players breaching quarantine rules, top-level resignations and revelations about the sport’s dire finances.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2020