Reds locked in negotiations with state government over Super Rugby return
The Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) is in negotiations with the state government to allow its Super Rugby team to return home without having to undergo 14 days of hotel quarantine ahead of their championship final on May 8.
Perth was sent into a three-day lockdown because of a single case of COVID-19 at midnight on Friday, a few hours after the Reds had lost their final match of the regular season to the Western Force in the city.
Under Queensland's health regulations, anyone arriving in the state from Perth from Saturday is obliged to undergo a two-week quarantine at an approved facility.
The Reds squad will travel from Perth to Sydney by charter flight on Saturday before negotiating the final leg of the journey back home to Brisbane.
The QRU said it had held "positive conversations" with the government to allow some flexibility in the isolation requirements.
"The QRU is in the process of submitting a request to activate the same successful model employed last year where the Reds playing squad and team staff were in home quarantine and a bubble at Ballymore," the QRU said in a statement.
"This is to ensure the team can continue training preparations ahead of their Super Rugby AU Grand Final on Saturday 8 May at (Lang Park)."
The Reds finished top of the Super Rugby AU standings to secure the right to host the final against the winner of a playoff between the ACT Brumbies and Western Force in Canberra next week.
The Perth lockdown also impacted other professional sporting action in Australia over the weekend.
An A-League soccer match scheduled for Sunday in Queensland between the Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory has been postponed, while an Australian rules game between Fremantle Dockers and North Melbourne will go ahead without a crowd on Saturday.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Jane Wardell)
Latest Comments
Musk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
Go to comments