The virus ‘hit’ at the end of the cricket season which is predominantly played through summer.
The major domestic competition, the Sheffield Shield did not reach the finals stage. Luckily the Women’s T20 World Cup reached a final which Australia won.
The domestic T20, the so called Big Bash, also was completed (but who really cares!) and various international Test matches involving the Australian men’s team were played without interruption.
There are four codes of football played across the nation, Australia Rules (AFL), Rugby League (NRL), Rugby Union (RA) and soccer (FFA).
The season had already got underway for all four when the competition came to a sudden halt. Some tried playing in empty stadiums but it wasn’t working and the travel ban made it impossible to play in other parts of the country.
The NRL will start a limited season at the end of May under some very unusual conditions.
The AFL are looking at end of June for their season to start again but quarantine issues have that date in doubt. Again, playing in empty stadiums for TV audiences only must be a downer.
Rugby Australia has announced an interim domestic men’s competition to replace the Southern Hemisphere wide Super Rugby tournament and hopes to kick off in July.
The FFA is set to resume in August.
The National Basketball League (NBL) men’s competition made it to the playoffs but they weren’t completed.
A controversial decision was made to award the championship to the team leading the playoffs at the time of cancellation.
Of course the ordinary person hasn’t been able to participate in recreational sporting activities. Golf clubs, lawn bowls clubs and tennis clubs have been closed. And the lower grades of the above football codes have come to a standstill.
It seems that fishing, surfing and walking/jogging have been the only untouched pursuits although city beach goers had access problems.
So as the restrictions slowly come off we will probably see most sports returning but under a whole lot of new rules.
Of course the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics is a major blow not only for the athletes who have trained years for their events, but also the armchair spectators. Hopefully we will see that event in 2021.
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