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The NRL is adamant it wants to resume on May 28, but government and health authorities do not seem so sure about the notion of resuming widespread contact sport so soon.
Key points:
- ARL commissioner Wayne Pearce says he has paperwork from government figures saying the competition can restart
- But the NSW Health Minister says the NRL was required to discuss how play could be resumed safely
- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she has not given the NRL the green light to resume play in May
With Australia just starting to show signs of promise in flattening the curve thanks to strict physical-distancing measures, rugby league was the first major sport to confirm a resumption date while the coronavirus pandemic remains in full effect.
The Australian Rugby League (ARL) Commission said May 28 was selected after consultation with experts but said it "remains subject to ongoing advice from government and health experts".
Project Apollo, an innovations committee set up to help the league get back on track after the season was cut short after round two, said it had been given the go-ahead to resume training and playing.
It is headed up by former superstar player Wayne Pearce, who took exception to a suggestion from NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard that the NSW Government had not had contact with the league for a month.
"I've got paperwork in front of me that says the NSW Health Minister's direction related to COVID-19 does not preclude the NRL from commencing a competition," Pearce said.
"I've got a letter from [NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller] that says we are permitted to restart the code. We're permitted to train and play in pursuit of our work as long as we adhere to public health guidelines.
"When Brad Hazzard said he's not aware of it, I can assure you the paperwork is there.
"I've got a copy of the document, so maybe Brad's just got a fair bit on his plate at the moment and isn't across all the specific details of what [the] Government has approved."
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Mr Hazzard said the NRL was required to discuss with health authorities how resuming play could be done safely.
"If it is possible for any sport to operate in a safe way, that's a question for health authorities not politicians and if the organisations want to talk to them about that, that's a matter for them," he said.
"If we could be watching rugby league sitting at home, yeah I'd like it, but we've still got to make sure the teams are safe, the people coaching are safe and the people who make those decisions are the health authorities."
'Whether May is the time will remain to be seen'
In a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the green light to resume play had not come from her.
"Can I stress, our expectation is that any organisation across any sphere of society, if they want to continue their operation, they have to stick to health rules," she said.
"What is important to note, there would be so many organisations that haven't been specifically listed as exempt, it's up to those organisations to decide what their future is."
Pearce said the paperwork saying the league was not restricted from playing came from the State Emergency Operations Centre and had been "signed off on" by Mr Hazzard's office, giving approval for the NRL to go ahead but only in NSW.
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Pearce pointed to the flattening of the curve as justification for optimism, but deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly expressed scepticism about whether the league could start up again as early as May.
"I don't think they [the NRL] are a law unto themselves … they're part of society and they have a part — as we have all done — to support not only safety for themselves but for all of us," he said on Friday.
"We all have a place in this and if we loosen the social-distancing measures at the moment it can have an implication down the track.
"What we know about this virus, if we don't have these social-distancing measures, [is that] one person can lead to 400 other cases within a month. We just cannot afford at this stage to be considering that happening.
"They're making their plans for the road out [of the shutdown] and I encourage them to do so, but whether May is the time will remain to be seen and definitely they'll need to get some permission to do that," he added.
Pearce used mines, factories, hairdressers and barbers as examples of workplaces that were still operating under the public health order, and said the league wanted to "play a leading role in the revival of the economy".
What the experts are saying about coronavirus:
Deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said on Saturday the current guidelines were that training and playing were not to take place, although, "sport is a major part of the Australian psyche, [so] as we see the curve flattening, it is logical that it is one of the first things that we need to address".
In the midst of all this, the NRL was criticised for mismanagement by long-time broadcast partner Channel Nine.
"At Nine we had hoped to work with the NRL on a solution to the issues facing rugby league in 2020, brought on so starkly by COVID-19," a statement read.
"But this health crisis in our community has highlighted the mismanagement of the code over many years."
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Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, covid-19, diseases-and-disorders, health, respiratory-diseases, nsw, australia
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