The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) on Wednesday postponed six more games due to rising COVID-19 cases at A-League teams.
The APL said earlier on Wednesday it had postponed Friday’s game between Central Coast Mariners and Macarthur FC, Saturday’s clash between Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City, and the game between Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
It then announced that games on January 5 between Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar, Macarthur FC and Perth Glory, and Melbourne City and Adelaide United had also been postponed.
Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp said they had done everything they could to ensure their Dec. 31 game against Macarthur went ahead.
“We’ve had in excess of 10 cases within the playing and coaching staff and a couple of more cases came through today,” he added.
“We’ve had to make the tough decision to cancel our New Year’s Eve match for the safety of our players and the community.
“We did everything we could and as of yesterday we were optimistic that if we got through one more round of testing we would’ve been OK, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case this morning and we’ve had to make the hard decision on that.”
With Sydney FC’s match against Perth Glory already postponed, only two games on this weekend’s schedule have survived.
“Our primary concern is for the health, wellbeing and safety of all players, staff and their families,” the APL said in a statement.
“All positive cases and those close to them are adhering to relevant state government health directives, in close consultation with the A-Leagues.
“We will continue to work with all clubs involved on confirming a new schedule for the postponed match as soon as possible.”
APL chief executive Danny Townsend said this week that it intends to finish the season on schedule and that clubs would be allowed to play during the international windows next month and in March to ease the pressure on the schedule.
