By Nick Creely
The VFL has officially been abandoned for 2020 after a meeting held with the remaining clubs on Wednesday, 8 July.
While the Casey Demons pulled the pin on the season only a few days earlier, becoming the first VFL club to do so, AFL Victoria has scraped its plans for a 1 August start to the season due to the worsening health conditions in the Victorian community.
With Metropolitan Melbourne returning to Stage three restrictions for six weeks after a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases, AFL Victoria has acknowledged that getting a season up and running would be too great a task.
AFL Victoria is continuing to meet with VFLW clubs to progress the 2020 VFLW Super Series, with the new-look format aiming to still be held in September, but will only do so based off State Government advice in regards to returning to play and train in a safe envrionment.
AFL head of talent and state league competitions Tristan Salter said the decision was incredibly difficult, and after consultations with the VFL clubs and a variety of multiple scenarios considered, it proved to be too great a challenge.
“All levels of the game across Victoria have been impacted by the health pandemic this year and the second wave of restrictions has made it difficult to conduct a fair and equitable season while preserving the integrity of the VFL competition,” Salter said.
“We acknowledge this is very disappointing news for the players, coaches, officials, volunteers and fans of the VFL Competition and commend every VFL club who has worked tirelessly to ensure a united approach to the outcome of the 2020 season.
“Following the updated restrictions announced by Victoria State Government, we explored many scenarios as to how we could still proceed with a condensed season in a non-traditional format. Ultimately it provided too great a challenge for all involved.”
With the VFL season done and dusted, there are still doubts over the potential of a season start of the NAB League, which was slated to begin on 22 August, and was announced only days prior to the six-week lockdown.
The setback has cast doubts over the return of the elite under-18 competition, the NAB League as well, which was due to begin on August 22, just days after the proposed six-week lockdown period ends.
However, with regional areas of Victoria exempt from the lockdown, and the NAB League already set to split its 12 clubs into a Metro and Country division, there is still a chance that could still feature as planned, with options for the metropolitan clubs to still be assessed.
It would give AFL clubs a small window of opportunity to get a look at potential players before the AFL National and Rookie drafts.
Local NAB League clubs, Dandenong Stingrays and Gippsland Power – alongside Bendigo Pioneers, Murray Bushrangers, GWV Rebels and Geelong Falcons – form part of the Country division. The APS private school competition in Victoria has also been postponed indefinitley.
