If any sport is bound in tradition, Australian Rules Football
is one of them. Throughout each season many
traditions are followed by the AFL, many
dating back to the founding of the sport.
The 2020 season will start on Thursday night with the annual
Richmond-Carlton clash at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, because it usually does. Coronavirus be damned. If any 19s come up during the night, they
will reflect the score, were that even possible, not the COVID...
No one knows how many matches will be played, AFL is, after
all a Winter Sport, and Australia approaches its Winter cold and flu, and
Coronavirus season apparently. With a
few hundred cases, the commissioners were unsure what the spread would be, but
after following advice from the health ministry, and civic officials, it was
decided the traditional Richmond-Carlton AFL season opener on Thursday night at
the MCG could proceed.
The entire season has been shortened to 17 games, to give
greater flexibility in cancelling some weekends without affecting the season,
and the option was given to progress directly to the finals series and forgo
the final two rounds of the regular season.
The AFL Chief Executive stated "We don’t know how many
games we will get into this 153-game journey before we have to pause," he
said, "But what I do know today is I feel comfortable with the government
and medical advice, and the support of our presidents, CEOs, players and
coaches."
The decision came two days after the AFL commission had
reduced the 2020 season from 22 matches per club to 17 in a bid to provide
flexibility on scheduling in a season which is guaranteed to be severely
interrupted. The Commissioners had hoped
for some guidance from the national government, which has recently banned
gatherings of over 100 people, but the government made it clear that this
decision was in the hands of the AFL.
The AFL has bucked the trend of sports internationally, with
the large majority of leading competitions, including the English Premier
League, NBA, Major League Baseball and tennis tournaments, putting things on
hold. Last week the Melbourne Formula
One event was cancelled.
Thursday's match starts off a weekend of AFL action, in nine short hours. The weekend continues with two
matches on Friday, and several more on Saturday and Sunday. Carlton has not won the opening clash for
several years, since 2012, and is hungry for a win. The Richmond Tigers are one
of the strongest teams in the league. Action
involving Trent Cotchin and Patrick
Cripps will certainly heat up the evening.
Is this a wise decision by Aussie Rules Football? That really is beyond the scope of this
blog. It is good to see some return to
normalcy with a return of the AFL season.
