“To all intents and purposes, the arranged marriage of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina is over. South Africa was said to be taking longing looks towards the Six Nations long before COVID-19 and now we have a chance to dissolve things well before the expiration of the current broadcast deal in 2025.
......
Australia, which includes New Zealand basketball, football, and rugby league teams in their domestic competitions, seems like a logical, if underwhelming, rugby partner. Both nations have (so far) survived the pandemic without huge incident and are suitably close to each other - and isolated from everyone else - to stage a Super 10-type competition.
 That would mean New Zealand’s five franchises joining Australia’s four plus, presumably, the Western Force in a trans-Tasman tournament. It’s a competition that would include plenty of mismatches, but it’s the logical choice franchise-wise.....”

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-arranged-marriage-of-south-africa-new-zealand-australia-and-argentina-is-over/

Thats the best thing Rugby can do, so I hope it doesn't happen.

this from the same article earlier-
 “In an ideal world, New Zealand might go it alone for a while. Kiwi fans had become fed up with anything other than derby games and circumstances mean that’s all New Zealand Rugby (NZR) will be capable of staging in the short-term.”
 i wouldn’t mind seeing Qld, NSW & ACT play against the NZ teams. No Melbourne based team. In replacement of Vic and WA proposal I would like to see ethnic teams in Auckland, like London Irish & London Scottish if it could work - Auckland Tongan and Auckland Samoan

“It did not specify the firms but said their locations included China, Hong Kong and Eastern European nations such as Croatia.Broadcasters from Germany, France, Italy, the U.S. and Australia as well as other online platforms have inquired about purchasing broadcast rights, it added.South Korea has been seeing only a trickle of new coronavirus infections, with 14 fresh cases on Tuesday taking the total to 10,752.”
https://www.dailysabah.com/sports/football/k-league-snapped-up-by-sports-deprived-broadcasters

So, the Bundesliga has started testing players in preparation for a return to football behind closed doors.
Qld Premier has given the green light for NRL clubs to start training and she backs the NRL starting on 28May. Seems NRL officials were a bit better informed than posters on this forum who ridiculed them.
So what’s the FFA doing? Probably planning to have another meeting to discuss when the meeting to make a decision will be held. So frustrating.

ESPN reported yesterday that A-League will return to training on 1 july  for a 1 August re-start of the season.

LOL

They probably want to run everything past Arnie first...

ESPN tweet:
the A-League have their return dates.Players will be back in training on July 1, with the remainder of the season to commence on August 1, sources have told ESPN.

So they are waiting till after the pubs are reopened in New York and London? Still sounds a bit risky. 

Sorry I thought you were joking

For a country that does not have and never has had an outbreak, and for a league that played behind closed doors without incident (and finished the W League) when case numbers were at their highest, this is just embarrassing

Australia just took one extreme over the other

I read an article the other day where somebody said this was a good test run for any serious global viral outbreak. The lesson we have to learn is not to have a response led by mathematicians. Everything has just been average numbers, charts, curves, and computer simulations. Something about Australia and metrics

You What

1/ Aside form a few small outbreak pockets like Bondi and in Tasmania we haven't had a widespread problem. There have only been 670 cases of community transmission

2/ A serious virus will have a 10%-30% fatality rate, or over 60% of any one country infected. We aren't prepared for a global outbreak on that scale and this was a good test

https://covid19.who.int/region/wpro/country/au      It not bad but if you had not shut the country down I think you would not be so safe.
6762 cases
92 Deaths

Right and if this was being spread by rodents, birds or insects we wouldn't be able to keep it out by managing our shorelines. But that isn't the case

Our situation today is no different to how things will be in 3 months or 6 months, right up until we get a vaccine early next year (if at all). When people can be infectious for 17 days, and not realise for over a week, chances are somebody is going to pass it to somebody

If we can't manage that then we're in for a long lockdown

It’d be interesting to hear the logic of the FFA’s decision making- if there is any.
So, you think it’s ok to keep playing behind closed doors when we had 50 cases a day and other sports had stopped. But when it’s time to restart, and we are at <20 cases a day you’re two months behind other codes because  ..... ??? 

Think you’re being a bit harsh here. 

Morrison is saying that forget what the premiers say about the NRL. Even if the states agree it is up to Border Force to determine whether the Warriors are allowed in and they have not given the go ahead. 

Sorry - that has now been granted a couple of hours ago!!

NSW Health Minister though is saying that they have not given the go ahead as they have not seen any plans. If the plans meet the criteria (AND THERE WILL BE NO FAVOURITISM SHOWN) then it will get the go ahead. This is in line with what the police commissioner has already said 

Agree. NRL is showing initiative and resolve, being proactive. The other lot, just kicking back collecting their paychecks...

At this point, it DOES look like the two state governments are showing favourtism towards the NRL.
For starters, NSW is still the most affected state in the whole of Australia.

“An ambassador for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the tournament's organisers said on Thursday.
 Retired Qatari midfielder Adel Khamis, 54, "was unfortunately diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, Covid-19," the Supreme Committee for the organisation of the 2022 tournament wrote in a tweet.”
https://www.nation.co.ke/sports/football/World-Cup-2022-ambassador-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/1102-5539396-yeo11tz/index.html

Why? What FFA plans have been knocked back?

It would be like someone complaining about not getting a job they never even applied for...

Hazzard actually sounded pretty pissed off that the NRL are verbally them. I think they would be better off working with the NSW government rather than pissing them off. 

Yet in Queensland, the Premier (and I am no fan) has this to say:“I said I was as keen as anyone else to see the NRL return and I meant it,” she said.
“The only condition was that it did not put our excellent work containing the spread of COVID-19 at risk and the Chief Health Officer advises that the NRL plan is workable.
“First round games will be played in Queensland and of course I put in a bid for a local grand final and we all look forward to hosting the State of Origin.”

Perhaps the FFA and NSW government could collaborate on a May 2021 start for the A-league ... just so both parties are comfortable they are not being rushed into it.

Hazzard was actually pretty pissed off all round. All the questions before that were to do with Aged Care. He was at pains to say how he thought things had been done wrong - but then added that it was a Commonwealth responsibility as was border security and the NSW health department were doing great work (all while inferring that we would be in a lot better place if the Federal responsibilities had been handled as well).

You only have to google a few articles to understand that the Ruby Princess was NOT Border Force’s responsibility. Border Force doesn’t have a health department. Police investigation will resolve it anyway. It’s pretty obvious which state has been worst at handling this whole thing. Haz(z)ard is just deflecting and running scared.

The moron bot strikes again 

It is there statutory responsibility. Morrison also explicitly said it was Border Forces call before anyone was released. You may say that this is a semantic argument but responsibility and operating under authority from those responsible are two different things.    

Border Force can delegate authority but you cannot delegate responsibility. That is management 101, They may not have a Health department but they needed to have governance structure over the situation. i.e. Establish (probably in consultation with the federal CMO who is responsible for biosecurity what criteria needs to be met before anyone was let off the ship). This was not done. 

Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram has hit back at claims Border Force officials were responsible for letting coronavirus infected passengers off the Ruby Princess cruise ship in Sydney, saying the health assessment was the job of NSW Health.Mr Outram said health officials, not Border Force, had judged the ship low risk, and had cleared passengers under the Biosecurity Act to disembark. They had not boarded the ship to check."What broke down in this case was ... health officers, trained doctors or nurses didn't get on board the vessel, swab passengers and take their swabs for results," he said.The ship has now been blamed for spreading coronavirus,with passengers in several states, including at least five in the ACT, testing positive. So far, 133 passengers have tested positive, and on Tuesday one died.Mr Outram held a press conference on Wednesday to defend Border Force, after The Australian newspaper reported that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had told her party room meeting that border force officials had wrongly advised NSW Health that the ship was low risk.Mr Outram said his officers were responsible for ensuring there was no contraband and ensuring everyone had visas. The Department of Agriculture had the biosecurity responsibility, he said.

So basically NSW Health were operating under the authority of Border Force and.or the Department of Agriculture while being overseen by the responsible body. They had been given authority and stuffed up - but really it was not their responsibility. The buck stops with the people that are responsible.   
To the extent  that Border Force had done anything in terms of governance NSW health followed the followed national guidelines (set by Border Force) which allow passengers to disembark if the route is considered "low risk". The Ruby Princess was given that status because it had been to New Zealand only.