We will be able to play somewhere but it is extremely unfortunate were having to go abroad to find a new home away from home. Thats something that will be difficult for us, and thats the truth – it will be more difficult for us to qualify because numbers dont lie, and the numbers say that we have better opportunities when were playing at home on a sporting level.
The Socceroos have not played a match on home soil since a 5-0 win over Nepal in Canberra in October 2019 – nearly two full years ago.
FA chief executive James Johnson with Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn at a sponsorship announcement in April.Credit:AFR
They are pencilled in to play two further matches in Australia – against Oman on October 7 and Saudi Arabia on November 11 – before the end of the year, and while Johnson remains confident they will go ahead, he appealed for local authorities to look at the medical evidence FA has presented them.
We will do everything we can to make this happen. We want the government at both federal and state level to really act on facts and figures and logic, he said.
What we dont want is we dont want governments to act on optics. We have evidence, medical evidence, that says the risk of us playing at home is zero to almost none – I mean, theres no community risk in transmission.
There are optics around athletes getting exceptions but this is something thats very specific to Australia. If you look around the world … [other] countries governments [are] celebrating the return of the national teams to play in their own countries and theyre finding ways to ensure that the community remains safe on one hand, but theyre able to play at home on the other.
Despite the COVID-19 situation in NSW, Johnson said Sydney was still the most likely location for any national team activity because of the state governments openness to their proposals compared with other states when FA began lobbying several months ago.
In our code its not like cricket where the governing body contracts the players. Clubs contract the players and its only nine days, technically, they are required to release players during [international] windows, he said.
And nine days doesnt fit into the 14-day quarantine rule. What were asking government and what we need government to change is to allow the Socceroos to play within the bubble, against another national team, within a four-day period … they wouldnt touch the community. We principally had that with NSW but weve since been advised its not possible for September.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has remained overseas since steering the Olyroos at the Tokyo Olympics to avoid any repeated spells in Australian hotel quarantine, as the team is due to face Vietnam in Hanoi five days after playing China.
His Olyroos assistant, Tony Vidmar, is part of the Olympic contingent that is being forced into double quarantine by the South Australian government.
Ill be honest, its difficult, Arnold said. The other nations like Japan and South Korea, they can get their players from Europe in and out easy because of the sport exemption. Its important we do have these home games. The fact were not playing at home in September is tough. It would be great if we could get some help for October, November.
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