As the first stop of the world Formula One championship season, the Australian Grand Prix is also a landmark event in Australian sports.
Xinhua News Agency, Sydney, March 14th issue: Cancellation of the event, opening, sharp drop in income-the impact of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic on Australian sports
Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yalin Guo Yang
as the Australian Grand Prix was forced to cancel after the start of the competition, the impact of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic on Australian sports began to appear, in addition, the government proposed to cancel the unnecessary gathering activities of more than 500 people, and many competitions were canceled one after another, and the major leagues were also greatly affected.
As the first stop of the world Formula One championship season, the Australian Grand Prix is also a landmark event in Australian sports. Although the organizers were under great pressure to make the event open as scheduled, the news that the members of the McLaren team confirmed the infection of the new coronavirus became the “last straw”, which made the event have to be canceled immediately.
Also canceled are the 2020 season unveiling activities to be held by the World Surfing Federation on the Gold Coast, the National Youth Track and Field Championships and the national swimming championships.
Meanwhile, the Australian Cricket Association said it would suspend the women’s cricket team’s trip to South Africa scheduled to start in late March. The Australian Football Association also announced that it would suspend all overseas matches of the national team.
For league matches or clubs that do not want to cancel the matches completely, it is a last choice to implement stricter prevention and control measures or empty matches.
The three one-day international matches of the Australian and New Zealand men’s cricket teams will be held without spectators. Fans can watch the matches through TV and live webcast. Although the media can still enter the stadium, they must keep a safe distance from the players and team staff.
“We know that these changes will affect many people, but we hope everyone can understand that public health and safety must be put first at this time.” Kevin Roberts, CEO of the Australian Cricket Association, said.
The second round of the Australian National Football League, the first nine matches of the Australian football professional league and the remaining matches of the National Basketball League finals will be held soon.
“We need to deal with the current situation according to the advice of medical experts. The current suggestion is that we can compete but not hold large-scale gathering activities, which will put everyone at risk. I am sorry to the fans, but we cannot ignore the health and happiness of the whole community.” The chief executive officer of Australian rugby professional league, gylun MacLachlan, said.
The players should not only get used to the atmosphere of not cheering cheer sound, but also learn to “distance” with the fans “. The NFL has canceled community visits and asked players to wave their hands instead of signing a photo. Some clubs in Australian rugby professional league canceled practice matches, restricted visitors and required players not to sign for fans during public training.
In addition, in addition to the challenges brought by the epidemic to the health of personnel, the sharp drop in income caused by the cancellation of events and the reduction of fans is also a problem that Australian sports circles need to deal.
Colin Carter, chairman of the Australian rugby professional league club Jilang cats, said that because fans could not attend the match, the loss of each home game of the club could be as much as 1 million Australian dollars. “We have never experienced such a season. The economic impact of the empty stadium on all clubs will be huge.”
National Football League CEO Todd Greenberg said that if the club faces financial difficulties because there are no fans, the league will try to save them from bankruptcy.