In good news for footy, the Queensland Government announced on Wednesday that the ban on community sport in Southeast Queensland will be lifted at 4pm, Friday 20th August.
Recognising that so many players across Southeast Queensland have missed out on playing footy over this past month, AFL Queensland encourages any youth team, whether they have qualified for finals or not, to organise their own practise matches this weekend. Any matches that go ahead will be sanctioned by AFL Queensland, including assisting with umpires where possible.
We also wish to confirm that the Youth Finals Series will proceed as currently scheduled, with no finals games to be played this coming weekend. Week one of finals will be the weekend of 27/28/29 August, with grand finals to be played on 3/4/5 September.
Due to the timing of the Queensland Government’s announcement yesterday, and the significant number of youth clubs impacted (150 games), there wasn’t sufficient time to consult with all clubs prior to determining this outcome (over and above the consultation that happened with senior clubs). In addition, given the inability of clubs to train and prepare over the last month and the current QLD/NSW border restrictions, we don’t want to put any teams in a situation where they are forced to play.
We appreciate it’s been a tough month for our youth footy teams across Southeast Queensland with some team’s seasons ending abruptly, so we encourage, where safe to do so, that clubs organise their own games and enjoy being back on the footy field!
As always, the health, safety and wellbeing of our footy community remains our highest priority, and we continue to follow the direction of the Queensland Government.
We’re thrilled community sport is back!
