The boss of the FFA says travel restrictions, and not an increased risk to player's health, was behind its decision to suspend the A-League season.
Chief executive James Johnson made the news official this morning, with the A-League following the NRL and AFL in halting the competition with immediate effect.
While the NRL shut down its competition yesterday, citing advice from bio-security experts that player safety could no longer be guaranteed, the FFA says that wasn't the recommendation it received.
Instead, Johnson indicated travel restrictions between the states, and New Zealand, left them with no choice but to postpone the remaining rounds.
"The decision we took last night was mainly due to logistical issues as a result of the border controls," Johnson said.
"We have been in daily contact with the Deputy CMO (Chief Medical Officer), we've also got our own CMO that's been giving advice, and if, at any time, there was a risk that the players' health and safety was a concern, then we would have stopped immediately.
"That's not been the case.
"There's no health advice that's told us that it's not safe for the players to play."
Johnson says the decision to suspend the competition will be reassessed on April 22, with the governing body hopeful of completing the season.
"To get so close to completing the season is certainly a disappointment, and just to miss out by a few short weeks is heartbreaking for the players, the clubs and the fans," he said.
"We're optimistic, and we should be, it's a postponement.
"We want to ensure the players' mindframes are that the league will resume as soon as possible, but the reality is we don't know how this virus is going to move.
"It's been unpredictable, there's no certainty on how it's going to move, and I think our decision to postpone is in line with other leagues around the world."
With the Olympic Games set to be postponed until 2021, Johnson said issues such as players who'll be over the age limit of 23 when the games do go ahead will have to be worked through.
He acknowledged the FFA, like the NRL and AFL, faces a tough time financially, but said the current crisis might give the game an opportunity to make wholesale changes to make it more sustainable in the future.
"The game will survive, of that I'm absolutely sure. Will we need to make changes? Will things look different? I'd say yes," Johnson said.
"We have to look at our operations, and there are going to have to be some adjustments within FFA operations, this is obvious, this is a reality.
"Our bottom line is we have to ensure the organisation gets through this financially, this is going to mean we're going to have to make some very tough decisions, tough decisions that will impact our operations going forward.
"I think we need to talk about how we can do things better. If this provides us an opportunity to do that, we should take advantage of it."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/football/coronavirus-covid-19-ffa-suspends-a-league-season/bad9ba57-93e1-40cb-888e-8dbb6563f17d
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