MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia’s professional sports leagues scrambled to put contingency plans in place on Monday after Queensland authorities announced a snap three-day lockdown in state capital Brisbane to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak.
About 2 million people in Brisbane, the country’s third largest city, will be required to stay home from 5 p.m. local time except for essential work, healthcare, grocery shopping or exercise.
Australian Football League (AFL) team Brisbane Lions will remain in the southern state of Victoria, having awaited developments since their match against Geelong Cats on Friday.
Their home match against Collingwood Magpies has been switched from the Gabba to Melbourne’s Docklands stadium, the AFL said on Monday.
National Rugby League (BRL) team Brisbane Broncos are expected to expedite their flight to Victoria to prepare for their match against champions Melbourne Storm on Friday.
NRL boss Peter V’landys told Australian radio station 2GB over the weekend that the league could end up moving games.
“It really depends on the infection rate,” he said.
“The next 48 hours will be able to tell us as to the magnitude if it has got out into the community and the rate of it and we’ll make the decisions from there.”
A-League soccer team Brisbane Roar said they were consulting with the league regarding their scheduled home match against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
Super Rugby team Queensland Reds, who beat the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney over the weekend, may also need to alter travel plans and head directly to Melbourne for their match against the Rebels on Saturday.
Queensland officials reported four new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the cluster of cases linked to the UK variant to seven. The first case in the new cluster was reported on Friday.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
