Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged potential issues for the looming AFL season with round one only six days away.
âThere are very detailed discussion going on with Gill McLachlan and his team and the AFL. They will have to confront some of these issues as well whether they proceed and if they do proceed if they can with fans," Andrews said.
âI know itâs deeply frustrating to not be able to tell you if there will be footy next week. Iâm simply not in a position to do that.
âI have been clear all week that this would be disruptive that we would be asking of Victorians, and indeed Australians, things theyâve never been asked before.
âThat is very frustrating but youâve got to be guided by the advice, the nature of these pandemics is that the advice changes very very rapidly.â
âI cannot tell you whether there will be footy played next week. That is a matter that will depend on advice from the chief health officer and that advice may well change just as the advice changed overnight because of development as at the grand prix and events around the world.
âIf we donât do everything we can to reduce the number of people who get the virus then we will only add to the number of people ⊠who end up gravely ill.
âIf we donât take all necessary steps more people will die that is not something any of us should settle for.â
The AFL has not yet asked clubs to provide a skeleton list of staff that would be required on match day for games to take place behind closed doors.
On Tuesday McLachlan flagged the prospect of games being played without crowds in Victoria if the state government banned mass gatherings to control the spread of coronavirus however at this stage all clubs are planning to play round one as normal.
Club sources suggested an AFL club would need between 55-60 essential staff, including players, for a match to take place behind closed doors with players joined by coaches, medical staff including doctors and physiotherapists, trainers, analysts and information technology staff, and property stewards to play on game day.
The AFL also remains uncertain as to whether any bans on mass gatherings - if implemented - would apply nationally.
With these cancellations and threats of cancellations, not sure why the Robbie Williams concert is allowed to go ahead.
I have found the news coverage about right in quantity and mostly of good quality. But I am starting to feel there are too many special programs on the virus.
No-one was going to it anyway so there is no need to cancel. This also applies to most A-League matches and Gold Coast Suns matches in the AFL.
After her trip to the UK, the wife of Canadaâs prime minister tests positive for Coronavirus.
With the cancellation of âcrowdsâ I wouldnât be surprised (or maybe even averse) to virtual crowds being used for TV coverage i.e., sound effects could work if done properly.
I wonder if networks will air news specials tomorrow night (no sport commitments for Seven and Nine unlike tonight), as opposed to movies and whatever?
But another way to look at it is many viewers might be turning to TV to also âescapeâ, try to find a show or movie to enjoy to take their minds off it a bit, seeing the news coverage as a bit of an âoverloadâ?
Canned laughter, canned applause and canned cheers now. I hope not.
The event is staged by FM 104.7 and its company, Canberra FM Radio, made the decision at lunchtime to postponeâŠ
Years after being rebranded to Hit104.7, the old name lives on like a zombie!
I wonder if the fireworks have already started to degrade/how long they can be stored and still being able to be safely used later.
Oh, and with just a few hours to go, the COAG COVID-19 meeting may result in:
Itâs only been four though.
Given all the controversy over New Years Eve fireworks during the bushfires, if anything Iâm surprised the decision wasnât made to cancel Skyfire permanently!
Australia starts another global trend. 
Itâs not a question of if but when the beginning of the AFL & NRL seasons will either be a) Played behind closed doors or b) Postponed indefinitely.
If the later happens, itâll leave huge programming gaps for Seven, Nine and especially Fox
I watched the media conference re the F1 cancellation and what a dismal performance the reps put on. They had great difficult in explaining themselves and the decision to cancel the event at such late notice.
The most ridiculous part was that thousands of people could be see the background supporting the event already in place. Add to that the huge crowd outside waiting to get in (due to lack of notice of the cancellation) plus a couple of hundred more in a tightly packed media scrum, the talk of cancelling the event to avoid crowds was laughable.
The message was clear; if you are going to cancel an event, do it before thousands of overseas (potentially infected) visitors have already arrived in the country; do it before the teams and their support crews have arrived, before the caterers have set up, before hundreds of media from most countries on the planet have sent a rep and especially do it before the crowd has already turned up outside after no doubt packing themselves tightly into public and other transport to get to the venue.
I saw a Facebook comment saying that the microphone had been passed around so many times that the microphone had probably already developed antibodies by now.
The Channel 7 Mandurah CrabFest in WA has been cancelled, it was meant to be held this weekend.
Seriously picked the worst time to travel to the US and then on a cruise through the Caribbean. Eurgh. Supposed to leave next Thursday.
No major surprise there.
The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW had to act pretty quickly before preparations for the Sydney Royal Easter Show advanced too far. Better for it to be cancelled now than on Thursday April 2.