No crowds to be allowed at AFL matches in Victoria despite COVID-19 lockdown easing

The Victorian Government has confirmed crowds are still banned from AFL matches despite its lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions as of midnight last night.

In a move that places the AFL’s hopes to host its finals and premiership decider in Melbourne in doubt but which echoes advice from the World Health Organization about fans returning to sporting events, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews announced fans will be barred from attending matches in the state for at least two more weeks.

While the easing does increase venue capacities, Premier Andrews acknowledged his decision to continue to ban large crowds from sporting fixtures would not be popular, stating “I know that’s not necessarily news people want to hear but we have to be cautious.

"This (Coronavirus) has not gone away. It's under control. But it's in our country."

With only three weeks left to go until the AFL finals and six weeks until the Grand Final, round 22 will be the earliest fans can return to venues hosting AFL matches in Victoria in some capacity.

Following the last Victorian lockdown, it took seven weeks for crowd limits to be increased to 40% capacity, which at the MCG equates to 40,000.

Amid this uncertainty, Perth has emerged as a possible destination to host the entire nine-match AFL finals series this year, with Adelaide and Brisbane also looking at hosting the series

Perth’s 60,000-seat Optus Stadium earned positive reviews when it hosted the Richmond versus Essendon Dreamtime clash in round 12, with 55,656 spectators attending while the Gabba in Brisbane would be looking to repeat its hosting of last year’s Grand Final.

This week will mark the third consecutive round that spectators have not been able to attend games in Victoria.

The situation has resulted in two matches being shifted to Tasmania this weekend.

North Melbourne will take on Geelong in Hobart on Saturday, while Hawthorn hosts Brisbane in Launceston on Sunday.

Last week, infectious disease clinician Professor Dale Fisher of the National University of Singapore, who Chairs the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, called for large sporting crowds to be banned while the Coronavirus pandemic continues.

The Australian born infectious disease clinician, who has been resident in Singapore since 2003, said politicians needed to stop pretending there’s “no pandemic going on” in between clusters and make some unpopular decisions, instead of bouncing between acting as if there was little threat from the disease and an “imminent catastrophe”.

Professor Fisher said governments needed to ban all large public gatherings, including sporting crowds, until the end of pandemic adding that Australian governments should mandate masks for all indoor settings outside the home, instead of constantly chopping and changing the rules.