Friday, March 29, 2024

NRL plans shock restart on 28th May

In a surprising announcement out of Australia, the ARL have announced that they intend to restart the NRL on the 28th May 2020 “if coronavirus restrictions are eased.” The NRL season was suspended after just two rounds in March, and would have missed 8 weeks of action if it can be restarted on the last weekend of May.

Australia has been relatively spared the brunt of the COVID-19 cases, with speculation about climate, a more distributed population, and quicker closing of borders being touted as some of the potential reasons.

Australia has currently had 51 deaths, and just over 6,000 cases of COVID-19 so far.

However if the NRL were to recommence in May it would be a major surpise with most professional sports leagues in the world already announcing suspensions until at least June. While the last weekend in May is obviously not much earlier than that, the announcement has been met with much suprise.

NRL looking to add certainty

While making the announcement ARL chairman Peter V’landys said “Today what we landed on was a starting date. [We want] to give as much certainty as we can in uncertain times”.

“There is clear evidence the curve is flattening. The NSW Government has done a great job in reducing the infection rate from 22.27% when we suspended the competition to 1.43% today. 

“The situation is changing dramatically and we need to get moving. It is in the best interests of our clubs, our players, our stakeholders and importantly our fans that the competition resumes as quickly and as safely as possible.

“We have said right from the start that what we say today may need to change tomorrow. We will be flexible, and if the trend changes or if government restrictions change then so will we. The health and safety of our players and the general public remains the absolute priority.”

The structure of the competition has yet to be decided, and a restart is still dependent on the COVID-19 restrictions being eased.

Keep up to date with all the latest NRL news on our dedicated page here, and check out our twitter for the latest news from the sporting world here.

It’s NRL round 10 tipping time

NRL round 10 tipping time is here, and as the shortened NRL season reaches the half-way point we've got some really interesting match-ups this week....

Parramatta top Bulldogs: 3 things we learned

Parramatta Eels secured the first points of the 2020 NRL season with a trenches battle against the Canterbury Bulldogs at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday. It...

World Club Challenge 2020: NRL proves to be much stronger again

The Sydney Roosters demolished St Helens in the World Club Challenge, the annual battle between the winners of the Super League and the NRL. Despite...

Suliasi Vunivalu decision leaves Storm at a loss

Fijian winger and NRL breakout star Suliasi Vunivalu is switching codes at the end of the 2020 season to make huge money with the Queensland...