It’s a rule that’s been ‘made up’ by WA health authorities specifically for the AFL. Collingwood and Geelong played each other under this ‘rule’ at Optus last weekend without having been in Perth for 14 days.
It’s based on the fact that the interstate clubs are in an isolated hub when in Perth, supposedly without contact with Western Australians. But they can’t play either Freo or WCE until they have served the 14-day quarantine period.
The interstate teams self isolate in their hotels and training ground. There is a defined distance around the playing field, including the first 2 rows of the stadium seats. They don't have contact with the public for 2 weeks, starting from when they first reach Perth. I'm not sure what they do about food.
Thanks for explaining
The room cleaning, sheet washing would be common to hotel quarantine all around Australia, so there should be set protocols for that ( hopefully not involving staff sourced from WhatsApp). The ushers/security at the ground wore masks and gloves, and changed gloves if ever they had to touch a ball. If the ball was considered a potential risk, they haven't covered crowd contact, but it would be fleeting.
It's a TV draw, not a fan friendly draw. Swans v giants should be in Sydney and probably should have been last week.
Will any team have played [I]less[I] home games than us after round 12? Seems very strange.
Yes, we will have only played three games at the SCG by Round 12. I'd think there are a few Melbourne teams that might be in a
similar boat. It seems to me the AFL is anticipating the virus numbers in Sydney to follow what has happened in Melbourne by
not playing any games here for the next month or so. I think if it blows up in Qld, which you would have to think is likely they
might call the whole season off. To the AFL's credit they have given it a go, and they had to for money reasons. Most people
who follow footy pretty closely like we all do are probably pretty glad it's been on. I've been enjoying it and by the end of this
weekend would have been to six games (three Swans, three GWS) all up and that has been good. It just seems to me the bug
is just super contagious and it's just beyond society collectively to do what is necessary (and no one really quite knows what
that is despite the millions of "informed opinions" and guidelines floating around) to stop it's spread. A bridge too far as the
saying goes. I guess we'll see.
Last edited by KTigers; 23rd July 2020 at 10:29 AM.
Thats a very interesting view of the pandemic, and I tend to agree with you. If I paraphrase, in the long term, society cannot stop the spread of the disease, just down to human nature. Countries like Australia will follow europe. Countries like NZ who initially eradicated it (or WA, SA, TAS, NT) will eventually end up like Australia and Europe. They cant hold out forever.
I think the AFL has admitted as much by trying to condense the season while we can still play.
I hope the AFL doesnt give up once its in QLD, but rides ahead of the wave by moving to SA/WA until it has no where to go.
An interesting cross comparison is with our old friend Peter V'Landy's and the NRL. They arent moving, but will be operating tight hubs in effected areas. So if NSW and QLD go like Victoria, they will stay, but players isolated.
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